Love You to Death
by Sjokolade
Summary: Dino had met a lot of bad people – a lot! But he had never in his life met anyone like that stuck up, arrogant bundle of joy named Hibari Kyouya. Set during the Varia Arc. It’s not love at first sight and Dino doesn’t die ... but it is D18!
1. Part I: on the school roof

**Pairing**: D18  
**Rating**: M (for boys' love, violence and language)  
**Disclaimers**: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn and absolutely nothing of this belongs to me; not the characters or even the story line, personal interpretations aside!  
**Author's note**: I've never written a D18 before, so this is kind of scary, but I've been reading the published manga books and they've only gotten to the Varia Arc, Mist battle, so I've been reading a lot about those two together lately…! And to be honest, as cool and gorgeous as he is, I think having to tutor Hibari must be a nightmare ^_^'

I feel bad for Dino, though, first he has to grow up attending the same school as Squalo, then he gets the world's cutest but most sadistic tutor to shape him up for a role he doesn't want and finally he is tasked with tutoring Hibari!

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**Part I**

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* * *

Before Reborn came crashing into his life, Dino had been a gentle child. He had been the sort of sweet and clumsy boy who made other people go '_aww'_. He hadn't been tough, not remotely, but he didn't have to be, because he was the son – the _only_ son – of the 9th mafia boss of the Cavallone family. He was precious. And whenever someone tried to mess with him – were stupid enough to – someone always came. And even after Reborn had come, seen, conquered and dragged him kicking and screaming into a position he'd never wanted, Dino had remained a gentle person.

He had been 14 then, when Reborn came.

And now he was 22 and inches away from strangling a boy who was still in middle school…

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"_He's a bit of a problem child."  
_"_Oh? A challenge?"  
_"_Yes, quite. And he's just had his pride wounded pretty severely, so I warn you, this won't be easy."  
_"_I'll do my best, don't worry. I can't let my cute little brother down now, can I?"  
_"_Hm," Reborn smiled mysteriously, but said nothing. "He is the head prefect of Namimori middle school," he went on. "He loves his school to death, so you'll probably find him there in the disciplinary committee's office."  
_"_A school-loving prefect? Heh, he sounds more like a geek than a problem child, to be frank."_

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**The delinquent**

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Dino stared.  
"Are you Hibari Kyouya?"  
The boy on the couch glanced lazily up from the book in his lap and studied him with eyes that were clear and dark, mildly curious and unafraid. He was very beautiful. "Yes. Who're you?"  
"I'm Dino, the 10th mafia boss of the Cavallone family." _This _was the problem-child? "I'm an acquaintance of Tsuna and Reborn's," he explained. "I'm here to talk to you about that ring you've got."  
"The baby?" this seemed to pique the boy's interest because a corner of his lips quirked upwards into a sort of smirk. "Hmm, I suppose I should take you seriously then." He closed the book neatly and put it aside. "However," he rose gracefully from the couch, "that's not going to happen."

Dino couldn't quite suppress a grin. Yes, clearly this must be the one – the Cloud Guardian (hopefully), his student-to-be – and already this promised to be an interesting affair. "I see." He toyed absentmindedly with the whip that hung faithfully by his hip. "A problem child indeed…" The leather was warm and smooth under his fingers, as keen to go as he was.

"Then I guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

And that was his first meeting with Hibari Kyouya. In retrospective he sometimes thought that already at that time he had stopped thinking of Kyouya as a child.

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Ah, yes, the hard way… Violence had used to be '_the hard way_' for him. When he had to put his heart in the fight – _that_ was the hard way! Had been, he would think much, much later, until Kyouya had forced him to redefine the phrase altogether.

"The school roof, huh…" Dino leant his head back and drew in long, deep breaths of cool, crisp air that smelled of city and trees and the fragrant onset of early evening. "How nice, I've always liked roof tops!" He smiled and meant for it to look disarming but he was wary and alert, because he didn't know at all what to expect from the dark-eyed boy with the expressionless, arrogant visage, and his smile felt a little strained. Straight to the fight, he noted, no small talk, even though they had only just laid eyes on each other – this kid might just turn out to be a challenge after all.

And sure enough; the boy merely observed him languidly from under long lashes, looking almost bored, and in an instant that lasted no longer than a heartbeat, he had whipped out a pair of collapsible tonfa; one in each hand.  
"Then feel free to enjoy it," he said in a drawling voice, bending his knees slightly, like a cat about to pounce, "while I knock you flat!"

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Normally Dino was good with people. He cared about people. And he was used to others adoring, respecting, liking or simply not disliking him. In spite of eventually, reluctantly having been molded into an upstanding criminal with tattoos and a whip, who never had to pay at restaurants and could get away with wearing low-riding cargo pants, Dino Cavallone had always been one of the _good guys_. Nowadays it was _he_ who came when someone was in trouble – it had become something of a strength to him, as a matter of fact.

But Hibari turned out to be… difficult.

He assumed at first that the boy with the striking face and the sharp tongue was probably just suspicious towards strangers – many Japanese were, especially the men and especially towards foreigners who were tall and fair-haired and had tattoos. So Dino did his best to smile, which usually got him where he wanted, and to talk plainly and correctly. He tried to act confident and friendly and he called his student by his first name, Kyouya, in an attempt to establish a sense of familiarity between them that turned out to be completely in vain. He did everything according to etiquette and common sense.

But when that seemed to have absolutely no effect and do absolutely nothing to further thaw the ice, Dino began racking through his brains for some humanoid reference to go by and he vaguely recalled his first meeting with Gokudera Hayato – prideful and young and all fangs and spikes out and degrading insults and he thought that maybe Kyouya was a little bit like him. Maybe he just needed or wanted recognition.

As it turned out, though, to Dino's great surprise and pleasure, it wasn't difficult at all to give Hibari praise.

"You move well for you age," he complimented him in all honesty, feeling slightly winded as he broke off from their first quick bout of strikes and blows. Kyouya may not look it but he was quick and surprisingly strong and his reflexes were excellent. Dino decided he would not underestimate him.

He caught the boy's next upwards swipe by stretching his whip out tight between his hands and grinned.  
"'Think so?" Kyouya did not look winded, or amused, or flattered, or pleased. "I'm holding back, moron."  
Dino avoided the next deadly swipe, but only just – it grazed his hair and he felt the gush of wind on his face like a physical thing. Hibari's cold, tantalizing eyes were merciless. _Yikes! He's a real wild mustang, this one…!  
_Behind them Romario, who stood leaning against the fence had stopped drinking his coffee and was now watching them with interest.

Dino never meant to fight the boy outright – not yet, anyway – but realized that he didn't have much of a choice at this rate. They needed to get down to business, and soon – how long was this guy going to keep up the charade?

His next move caught Kyouya perfectly unaware. He feigned a basic, direct attack, which Hibari dodged with ease, but, as he brought his arm back to counter the attack his body suddenly froze in mid-movement and his eyes widened. Around his slender arm, Dino's whip was wrapped, tight as a python snake. Dino had swung the long whip around the fire ladder behind Kyouya and he hadn't seen it…!

_Gotcha!_ He grinned triumphantly and folded his arms across his chest, confident that he now had the boy exactly where he wanted him.

"You're good, Kyouya, I'll give you that," he admitted, his tone of voice serious. Surely now the kid would listen to him. "But you're still just a frog in a well – you need to expand your outlook a little. I'm going to help you with that."

But Hibari's expression didn't change at all. "No, you won't," he quipped flatly before he spun around and, with the tonfa in his _other_ hand he struck and hit Dino hard across the face.

It was a hairsbreadth away from a direct hit but, though he was caught completely off-guard, Dino managed at the last fraction of a second to twist his head back and sideways. "Ouch!" He clamped his hand over what was sure to leave a nice mark and felt tiny droplets of blood trickling down between his fingers, backing away as he did. "_Man _that smarts..!"  
He took a deep breath to steady himself. _A problem child indeed… Now_, he thought, _how am I going to tame this young bronco_?  
Hibari twirled the tonfa in his hands and scowled.

…And that was how Dino Cavallone spent his afternoon that day.

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He wouldn't – _couldn't_ – give up, not when Tsuna was depending on him. He would endure, he _had_ to.

"Hang on a moment, Kyouya."

He felt forced to resign to something akin to pleading, eventually. Surely the kid would listen, _had to_, if only he got the gist of it, a tiny hint of how serious the situation was.

"Listen, before we continue I need to talk to you about that ring you've received."

They had been at it for hours. So far neither of them had caved or showed any signs of inclination towards such a thing. Hibari's immaculate white shirt was torn at the sleeves and Dino had bruises all over his arms and his normally divine patience was seeping out of him with each breath. His tone of voice was insistent now. "You have to know a little about its purpose and –"

"I've told you, I don't care. I'm only here to tear you to pieces."  
"Geez, you're like a broken record!" Dino scratched his neck. _Same old song.._. He tried again, "listen, that ring you just got –"  
"If this little thing is so important to you," said Hibari, glancing up at him while twirling the half-ring languidly between his fingers, "maybe I'll throw it away…?"  
"What?! Wait! Don't be stupid!" Dino shook his palms vigorously. _Arrogant, self-centered, battle-crazy bastard!  
_Behind them Romario was snickering into his fist.

"Ok, fine! You can act as indifferent as you like, Kyouya, but I'm not backing down either." Dino's grip on the whip hardened and he stared at the boy with eyes that were laden with resolve. They were wasting what precious little time they had on this kid's petty pride-issues! But he had an idea of sorts and thought he knew something that might make the boy bait…

"Tell you what," he offered. "We'll make it a bet; eye for an eye! I'll fight you – for real, this time. I won't hold back."

This was a battle of resolve and stamina, he decided. Just like it was with the young horses he was so fond of training – and Dino was very good with horses.

"That's nice…" drawled Hibari, perfectly unimpressed.  
"But if I beat you," Dino went on, "you'll listen to what I have to say. All of it!" he added, pointing a finger at the other for emphasis. "And you're joining Tsuna's family."

"_If_ you win…"

"And if _you_ win, you're free to go your own merry way and I'll stay off your back, ok? Sounds good?"

"It's you who'll be on your back."

…endure!

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For 9 days absolutely nothing changed and Dino was no closer to breaking the Kyouya-code. He didn't get Hibari at all!

He had seen a lot of bad people – a _lot_. People who were selfish, greedy, uncaring and very, very cold… They belonged to the mafia, most of them, and, in most cases, it was the mafia that had formed them into the immoral beings they had eventually become.

But he had never in his life met anyone like Hibari Kyouya.

He was ice cold and arrogant and seemed to want nothing except to fight. He rarely smiled, he never laughed, he never seemed unsure of himself and he didn't cry. And he was always armed! Dino had met professional hitmen who were less cautious than this kid. And those weapons of his were another mystery; how on earth had he gotten hold of a pair of collapsible tonfas in _Namimori_? Were they even legal, he wondered.

Dino decided he liked the rest of the prefects pretty well, though. They reminded him in a way of his own men.

On the second morning when he arrived, filled with renewed resolve, they greeted him with polite nods and ill-concealed curiosity and informed him, quite politely, that even guests were requested to take their shoes off before entering the building. Those were the rules. And two of them actually escorted Dino and Romario upstairs to where Hibari was and announced their arrival in a very official manner before letting them in. Dino felt like he was entering the premises of a king, or a military dictator.

On the third morning one of them politely asked Romario to put out his cigarette. "The chairman doesn't approve of smoking," said the boy solemnly, regarding them with an expression as serious as the grave, as if this little piece of information ought to mean _a lot_. Also, by then, Kyouya had picked up that Dino was called Bucking Bronco by his men and had added a number of degrading insults to his already colorful vocabulary that revolved primarily around horses. Oh, the creativeness of young minds…!

On the fourth morning, Dino's ribs and shoulders looked like a watercolor painting done by an artist with a deep love for purple, blue and yellow and in addition to Romario, 6 more of his men had come along for moral support even though he hadn't asked them to. His men did things like that sometimes. When they approached the entrance, the prefects stationed there gave each other meaningful looks and took Dino aside to tell him in earnest, insistent whispers that the chairman didn't approve of crowds either (like, _really _didn't approve, at _all_) and that perhaps Dino's men could wait someplace else.

That morning Kyouya was already up on the roof waiting for him when he came.

They really seemed loyal, thought Dino and he was amazed. He suddenly had no problem picturing Namimori middle school being ruled by Kyouya's idiosyncratic whims – which was at the same time a horrible and ridiculously funny image, but it made Dino respect him. A leader, he knew, was worth nothing without those who would follow him gladly and unquestionably to the grave. It was the same with Tsuna. In the end it wasn't just _his_ actions, but those of Gokudera and Yamamoto as well that had convinced Dino that the 10th Vongola boss was truly worthy of his albeit unwanted, forced-upon title.

Kyouya clearly deserved his own title as chairman of the disciplinary committee, too.

On the fifth morning, Kusakabe Tetsuya appeared. He was nearly as tall as a full-grown man and, quiet as a shadow, he took up place next to Romario and watched. He stayed all day and he continued to come every day after that.

As the days passed and both Dino and Hibari looked increasingly stubborn and, for lack of a better word: colorful; covered as they were in an increasing number of cuts, bruises and band-aids, Dino's men and Hibari's prefect-underlings became very good friends.

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During those days Dino sometimes thought wistfully of Yamamoto's bright smile and eager eyes, of the hesitant yet determined expression on Tsuna's face and of Gokudera, all fired up and bursting with desire to prove himself. And to think, he could have tutored _any_ one of them. Either one or all three at once, and still, he thought, it would undoubtedly have been less difficult, less bloody, less exhausting and less gut-wrenchingly annoying than it was to tutor that little bundle of joy otherwise known to the world as Hibari Kyouya.

He was a terrible and fascinating creature and Dino was infinitely curious about him, increasingly so the more he saw of the boy and his odd, selfish ways. Even though he was a brat…

He told himself that he was doing it for Tsuna and he reminded himself, again and again and again, that the reason why he was doing this – all of this – was to help his poor, unlucky, lovely little pseudo-brother. And for the sake of Tsuna, who was so much like he had been himself once, Dino would endure.

On the 8th day Reborn informed him (with a very smug and _very_ irritating grin) that the battle for the rings – _all_ of them, actually – would be taking place at Namimori middle school. Hibari's dearly beloved territory…

Dino drew a long, deep breath and let it slowly out – ok, time to get creative!

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"_I thought you loved challenges?"  
_"_Challenges?! Reborn, that kid's a menace!" Dino wedged the cell phone between his ear and shoulder and glanced backwards to see if he was alone. "And he won't listen to me – all he wants to do is fight!"  
_"_Isn't that why you're training him, though?"  
_"_I, well, sure, but – he just keeps coming at you, even after his body's worn out! He won't listen to a word I say, he's tried to throw away the ring twice already and the only reason we're having this conversation right now is because he finally passed out!"  
_"_Excellent! And here I was thinking you weren't making progress. Keep it up, Dino, I'm counting on you. Tsuna is, too!"_

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**Lain with Verdure…**

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It would perhaps have interested Tsuna and the others to know that while the Cervello were rigging up the Sun Guardians' boxing ring on the roof top of Namimori middle school, Dino had already lured his young student away from the school building. He had _not _given up. Kyouya hadn't either, but that was cool, Dino would endure – he would _not _give up.

While Tsuna was wringing his pale little hands nervously, his mind busy with worried thoughts about the Sasagawa siblings, Dino and Hibari were chasing each other around in a lush, green meadow in the fading, dusk-blue light just outside the main part of the city.

As Ryôhei received his first bone-breaking hit, Romario was fishing Dino out from a narrow but quite violent river, and by the time Colonello started to shout encouragements and instructions to his student, Kusakabe was fishing Hibari out of the same river a little further down. Or rather, he started to, but then he received a _look_ from Hibari and abruptly stopped what he was doing.

The banks on the other side were sandy and as Sasagawa Ryôhei became aware of the salty sweat covering his own body and had a brilliant idea, Dino and Hibari were wiping blood and mud off their faces, struggling to gain footing in the slippery sand.

When Ryôhei finally emerged from the battle victoriously and everyone there felt exhausted and excited and very relieved and the Cervello announced who the participants of next upcoming battle would be, Romario was blinking his eyes heavily and a yawning Kusakabe went off to buy them both paper-cup coffees. Their respective bosses showed no sign of being anywhere near close to ending the battle and, as it were, they both felt obliged to stay awake.

While a sleepless Tsuna discovered the 15 year old Lambo in the kitchen, Dino and Hibari were still, in fact, nowhere near finished. And they continued to fight, relentlessly, throughout the entire night. Dino was just vaguely beginning to realize that he didn't have a clue where they were anymore. There was forest. Through the pounding of the rain he could vaguely hear something that might be a waterfall. Nature…

Kyouya and he were both staggering slightly now, their movements becoming more sluggish and less explosive, and yet they continued to keep it up. This boy was amazing.

Romario and Kusakabe went to buy more coffee – though from where, Dino had no idea – and egg and ham sandwiches and rice balls wrapped in plastic. They watched their bosses, cast each other glances, shook their heads and ate their breakfast in silence…

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It had to end, of course. They were only human, after all.

When it finally did, they were lunging almost clumsily at each other with slow, heavy, mechanical movements – they had been fighting for so long now that their strike-blow-block-and-parry had become an auto-pilot routine and they were barely aware of what they were doing anymore.

At roughly the same time, not too far from where they were, Tsuna decided to screw the rules and intervene to save Lambo from death by electrocution. As Tsuna reluctantly handed over his own ring as well as Lambo's and witnessed Xanxus' cruel laughter, Dino's by now worn whip tangled itself around Kyouya's by now worn limbs…

"_Hah_!" Dino looked down at him triumphantly. Around them rain was falling. His eyes were the only two bright pinpricks of cleanness in a face otherwise smeared with mud and dark smudges of blood; his own and Kyouya's. "Gotcha!"

The latter lay by his feet, glaring hatefully and defiantly up at him, his arms and legs tangled together and pinned to his soaked body by the long leather whip. He looked no better.

"That's enough practice for today," said Dino hoarsely, folding his arms. Hibari shook sheaves of thick black hair out of his eyes and scowled. "Until I bite you to death, pony boy, we're not going anywhere." His voice sounded hoarse, too, his vocals thick and slightly discorded. How long was it since they had rested?

"Yes," said Dino placidly, "we are."

And then he simply bent down and picked Hibari up in his arms like a baby, as easily as if he weighed nothing at all, slung him unceremoniously over his shoulder and began to carry him back the way they had come. "And that's 'his royal highness bucking bronco, _sir_!' to you, by the way," he added. "…brat."

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Romario and Kusakabe, both positively beaming at this welcoming turn of events, led them to a nearby inn; one of the traditional Japanese ones that seemed infinitely exotic to Dino, and probably very dull and ordinary to Hibari and Kusakabe. It wasn't too far off from where they had _finally_ ended their little '_training session_', which was good, because Dino's legs felt wobbly and the slender form of Hibari Kyouya was thrashing – albeit weakly – in his grip, vainly attempting to kick, head-butt and even bite him. It made Dino feel smug and he toyed with the idea of not untying the boy at all, locking him up in a closet or something for the night instead. Yes, that would have been nice.

The reception area, which was all muted colors and pale wood and Japanese country-side interior, was blissfully empty of people when they arrived.

They made their reservations at the counter to a young woman who at first blushed terribly when Dino spoke to her, but whose face gradually started to look suspicious as she took in their clothes, torn and dirty and soaking wet and realized that there was blood mixed in with the dirt.  
Her eyes darted constantly to Hibari's motionless form, which still hung over Dino's shoulder – she thought he was dead, perhaps – until he turned his head around to glare at her past Dino's upper arm and demand in a dignified tone of voice that he get his own room.

He did, of course, and even though he was by far the smallest of them, he somehow ended up with the biggest one. It was right between Dino's and Kusakabe's and straight across the hall from Romario, who had shrugged carelessly and agreed to share the smallest room out of sheer desire to finally get some decent sleep.

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Dino unloaded a soaked, freezing cold and shivering Kyouya gently on the tatami floor and untied him from the whip with careful movements, warily so, just in case Hibari decided he wasn't feeling so tired anymore after all. But, for the first time ever, Hibari was behaving like a good boy and he merely observed him with a cold, measured scowl, his pale lips bent in the petulant shape of an upside-down 'v'.

Dino rolled up his whip and looked uncertainly down at him. He felt suddenly, inexplicably awkward. "So, err, you should get some rest," he said. Hibari looked up at him but said nothing. "Oh, and you should probably change your clothes, too," he added. "Or else you'll get sick." He made to leave, but turned his head just as he was exiting the room.

"You really are something, though, Kyouya," he said and suddenly he grinned. "You fight like a man!"

"How flattering, I was just about to say the same thing about you," replied Kyouya, with a small, lop-sided smile – the first Dino had ever seen him make.  
Romario closed the door behind him.

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Dino had had every intention of stuffing his face with whatever edible object he could get his hands on and then sleep it off like a peaceful corpse for as long as absence of light and sound would allow him, but, of course, it didn't work out that way. It never did. 10th generation mafia bosses didn't have the privilege of such luck, he was learning.

Reborn called him up on his cell while he was struggling out of his T-shirt, and he let Romario fix him up with tiger balm and band-aids while they talked.

"Ciaossu, Dino! Good thinking to lure Hibari away from school."  
Dino laughed weakly, "Kyouya is pretty… intimidating. Anyway, I figured he'd go crazy if he knew."  
"Hibari Kyouya is the only one we have who is currently close to Varia standard," said Reborn in a serious tone of voice. "But he could ruin everything for us if he went on a rampage. The battle tonight is between the Storm Guardians, by the way," he added. "So I would advise against an early return."  
"Oh good," Dino began, breathing a sigh of relief as he did. "Then we can get some sleep and –"  
"Better not let him out of your sight, Dino!"  
"Err, what? But, _Reborn_!" Dino whined and threw his arms out, almost knocking the glasses off Romario's face in the process. "I'm dying here!"  
"Hibari is extremely well-connected," replied Reborn without sympathy. "And he'll be concerned with the state of affairs at his school when he's not there."  
"You mean I have to physically guard-dog _that_ guy until the Cloud battle?!"  
"Sure glad it's not my responsibility," said Reborn cheerfully and Dino thought he could _hear_ the smug little smile all the way through the phone. Then he hung up, leaving Dino with a heart-broken expression, staring at the silent phone in his hand with his mouth half-open. He groaned.

Romario, who had heard everything, gave his boss a reassuring pat on the back, where there was still a small area of untainted skin.

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**Author's note**: ok, so that was part I! There will be at least 3. Hope you liked it so far!

Reviews would be EXTREMELY highly appreciated ^_^


	2. Part II: at the inn

**Author's note**: thank you so much for the reviews *tackle-hug-squeeeeeeezes reviewers*! It's my first time writing D18, so thank you ^_^  
Oh, if any of you were wondering about the title; no, it's not supposed to be some cheesy, poorly phrased love-confession nor a reference to that Kamelot song. It's a pun on Hibari's catch-phrase (obviously) and the fact that Hibari's '_love_' is probably as deadly as his wrath (not literally, though, I'm not angstifying this by killing off any pretty-boys).

By the way, the segments that are written in _Italics_ aren't too strictly connected to the story time-line, so don't get too caught up in those, ok? They're more to show Dino's thoughts or the different aspects of their relationship.

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**Part II**

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* * *

"Just let me have a look."  
Dino had not eaten in over 24 hours. His normally angelic patience was at its very limit and he was so very, _very_ tired… He leaned his shoulder against the door frame. It was he who was scowling now and his voice sounded flat.  
Hibari, who sat cross-legged and still fully dressed in his soaked clothes on the floor, graced him with a glance before continuing to dry off his hair with a towel. "Go away," he said lazily. "They'll heal."

"Eventually, yes," Dino did his best to maintain his cool. _That arrogant, stuck up little whelp_! "But they will heal much faster if you let me have a look at them _now_."

"I am not a weakling herbivore like you," said Hibari in a drawling voice and got to his feet. "I can take care of myself." And with that Dino watched on in terror-mingled disbelief as the boy fished out a roll of duct tape from his prefect's jacket, clenching it between his teeth to keep it from falling down as he began to unbutton his shirt. _Was he really going to…?_

"Wait, no, no, _no_! Kyouya!" Dino began to shake his palms vigorously and tried to take it away from him. "You can't – that is _not _how you plaster up a wound!" He couldn't believe this guy!

Kyouya snorted arrogantly and his eyes closed in a resigned fashion. He acted bored and nonchalant, as if Dino was nothing but an irritating insect that he couldn't be bothered to get rid of. "I didn't bring my sewing kit," he said calmly as he began to tear off a silver gray piece from the tape roll with his teeth. Dino was too tired to even laugh; though a small part of him suspected it might not have been a joke (Kyouya's twisted sense of humor would elude him for many years to come).

"Now go away and leave me alone, Bronco."

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**Dino full of Grace**

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Helpless, Dino watched in fascination as Hibari practically peeled off his filthy shirt. His upper body was slender and youthfully smooth and absolutely perfect. He didn't have as much as a freckle. _He looks like a porcelain figure_, thought Dino. Or rather, he would have, because as it were the pretty flesh was marked by angry red crisscross marks from Dino's whip and smudges of dirty rain water that had seeped through the cloth and he had bruises around his wrists and the slender neck. It looked a bit like he had been tortured.

Dino sighed. He held out a roll of fresh bandages and in an almost pleading voice he said, "will you at least use this instead of the duct tape?"

Hibari studied it with a thoughtful face for a moment before finally taking it and Dino's inner thoughts erupted in cheers. _Finally! At last I'm making some progress_!  
"And if you use this first," he quickly added, fishing out the ointment Romario had given him, "you won't get any scars." His hopes slightly rekindled he took a step forward, reaching out to hand the little jar over to a profoundly un-amused Hibari.

But Romario was not there and the jar never reached its reluctant target because at that moment happened the thing that wasn't supposed to happen. In spite of his gender, age and good looks, Dino was in possession of a great amount of self-awareness; far more than most others in his position could brag of – with the tiny little exception of this one thing… Anyway, he wasn't exactly sure how it happened, all he knew was that there was suddenly a sharp, acute pain shooting up from his toes like the jab of a knife and then next thing he knew things sped up and gravity kicked in and the floor was fast approaching.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a brief glimpse of Kyouya, one hand still hovering in the empty air, half-way extended towards the spot where Dino had been standing only a split second ago and his ruined uniform shirt clutched loosely in the other, staring at him with an incredulous look, eyebrows raised higher than Dino had ever seen them before.  
In one slow-motion moment he had the time to think _hah! So he _does_ have more than one facial expression_, before his joy immediately evaporated as he hit the floor head first, somersaulted and crashed straight into the tea table upon which Hibari had put the futon and bed-clothes that he would later use to make his bed and sent them flying in every which direction, unfolding in the air like sails.

It was lucky that the Japanese were a people of modesty and abstinence; otherwise the Cavallone family would've had one hell of a bill to pay in damage repairs. Probably.  
As it were, there weren't a lot of things in the room that could be destroyed and all that happened was that one of the sheets got caught on the rice-paper lamp that dangled from the ceiling like fish bait and one of the others hit the big decorative vase in the corner, which tipped over, spilling its content of pale, glistening bamboo sticks and rolling slowly over until it collided gently with the side of Hibari's foot.

A moment of perfect silence followed, as if the air itself was holding its breath and waiting to see if anything else might happen. But nothing did; Dino was done, it seemed.

He had landed on his back, bent double at an awkward angle so that the tip of his toes nearly touched the floor above his head and with his back pockets propped up against the over-turned tea table. He glanced up at Kyouya, feeling the heat rise in his face, and gave an awkward laugh. "Eh, he he… sorry about that."  
And then, like some delayed Grand Finale, the glass jar of ointment came falling down from out of nowhere and hit him smack in the forehead with a muted '_thump_', right where his third eye would have been if he'd had one. He cringed and let out a sharp little yelp of pain.

Above him stood Kyouya, who continued to stare at him, his depthless, dark eyes were narrow and suspicious and he had a faint curl to his pale lips and his expression was caught somewhere between disbelief, distaste and something new that might be curiosity.

The truth was that Dino had always been something of a klutz. Lately his bouts of lousy co-ordinance would come across blissfully less frequently than before but, occasionally, something like this happened. And for no reason at all! _Bad timing_, he thought and felt miserable, because he had silently prayed that this particular side of him would never be revealed to Kyouya. That guy gave off roughly the same vibes as a tiger, and Dino had the distinct impression that the moment he detected even the smallest hint of weakness or cowardice in others they were automatically marked off as prey and then treated as such.

"Wow…" said Hibari finally in a slow, sarcastic drawl, his Japanese pronunciation making it sound like 'wao', but Dino noticed that he was discreetly scanning the floor with a hint of genuine interest in his eyes – as if he wasn't entirely convinced if Dino hadn't just put on the humiliating display as some sort of distraction maneuver and so, when Dino rolled over his shoulder and landed on the floor on his knees, it was with a small sense of victory.  
Ok, so maybe he had sunken even lower down on Hibari's private inner food-chain chart, but at least he seemed to have caught the boy's interest and, he decided, there was satisfaction to be found in that. 'The Hell did he care how it happened, just so long as he kept the guy preoccupied!

"I was going to mutilate you for the impudence of interrupting me," said Hibari thoughtfully in a casual tone of voice and continued to stare down at him. His expression did not change. It was still dark outside and the lamp light gave his thick black hair a golden sheen to it, like a halo around his head. "But you seem to have saved me the effort, Clumsy Horse," he shrugged his hand vaguely at Dino. "How boring…" he added, and sounded like he was honestly a little disappointed.

_Mutilate_? Dino's grin became strained. Clumsy Horse? He'd come to help the guy dress his injuries, hadn't he. _Self-important, stuck-up, spoiled little…! _With murder on his mind it was all he could do to keep his sunny smile in place as his jaws clenched on their own accord. Hibari turned half away from him and began to unfasten his belt, but then his head snapped back to Dino again. "And why are you still here, low-life? I thought I told you to beat it."

_Not because I want to…! _"Because you're still injured in places you can't reach, and" – _because I can't leave you alone in case you run off and get us all killed_ – "because I still have to tell you about that _ring_ of yours." The smile stayed, but his teeth were gritted so tightly now it almost hurt to speak. _God _but he was tired…!

Hibari's eyes narrowed dangerously. He bent down, leaning his face so close to Dino's that their noses almost touched and, perfectly unselfconsciously, Dino stopped breathing.

"Are you… mentally retarded, Cavallone?"  
"Err, what? I just tripped and fell, I'm not –"

"How many times must I repeat myself before it sinks into your thick, worthless, empty head? I… " he took the Cloud half-ring out from his pocket, "don't…," his eyes still firmly locked on Dino he held it up between their faces so that Dino was forced to all but cross his eyes in order to look at it, "care!" And then with a motion like snapping his fingers he sent the little trinket flying in a neat arc over his shoulder.  
Then, without any further ado, he promptly turned his back to Dino and reached up to untangle from the ceiling lamp what Dino realized, upon closer inspection, was actually a silken robe.

Dino stared.  
He considered himself a reasonable human being – really, he was. He whose childhood had included that nutcase Superbi Squalo (on a daily basis, no less), whose adolescence had been controlled by Reborn the Hitman Tutor and whose short, eventful adulthood had been a constant mess created by the unholy mixture of the lingering financial catastrophes of his predecessors (all his for the cleaning-up, thank you very much), countless assassination attempts with varying levels of quality and creativity and international intrigues as frail and delicate as eggshell – all things considered, Dino Cavallone was a freaking Saint, wasn't he, that he hadn't lost his marbles long ago.

But this kid, this cold, rude and impudent, homicidal maniac of a kid was affecting him in a way no one else had ever done before and he was practically boiling on the inside.  
Why-oh-why did it have to be _him_? Couldn't he have been assigned to tutor one of Tsuna's other friends instead? _Anyone_ but this terrifying little monster who seemed to draw out the worst in him and then grate on it as if he meant for him to snap like a worn rubber band!

He wondered vaguely if maybe sleeping-pills might work on the kid. He would have been happy to give it a shot if he'd had any available. Or cyanide, perhaps. Yeah, that could work… _Oh yes_, he thought to himself sarcastically, Reborn would have loved it if he drugged his student – though surely Bianchi would be proud of him if he poisoned the guy.

But at the thought of his own tutor – former tutor – Dino took a deep breath. As scary as he was, Hibari Kyouya was still in middle school, he reminded himself. He was a _kid_, for crying out loud!

"Let me at least have a look at your wounds then," he said, his voice laden with self-control. Kyouya was just a boy and Dino couldn't allow himself to be carried away so easily by his own emotions. Tsuna needed him! "I won't mention the ring, but you can't see them all properly for yourself and I have to see if any of them have become infected."

Apparently persuaded, Hibari pushed over the low, polished tea table so that it stood right way up again, and lifted himself up backwards onto it.  
With a look of something that might be exasperation or expectation he rolled up the soggy legs of his slacks and stuck out a pale, slender leg. Dino glanced quickly up at him before he kneeled down warily on the floor in front of him, lifting up the offered foot carefully in his hands to examine it. He noted vaguely how perfectly it fit in the palm of his hand.

The ointment Romario had given him was actually a real tear-jerker. It stung and burned on young skin like the threads of a jelly fish, but when he put some on his finger and, with great care, began to rub it into one of the red flesh wounds, Hibari didn't even flinch. Dino stroked his fingers gently along the marks, applying the cool, honey-colored lotion as evenly as he could, further up the sculpted calf and up to the knee, which was all purple and blue and so scraped up that the skin there looked almost like velcro.

"You know you're gonna have to listen to me eventually," he said seriously, applying more salve onto his fingertips. He looked up at Kyouya. It was a reckless thing to do to bring the subject again, he knew, but he couldn't very well let the chance escape him either now that he had the boy sitting perfectly still for once, shutting up even. "You promised on the roof that you'd listen if I beat you in an all-out fight and I did, fair and square, and –"

"Beat me?" Hibari smirked. "What are you rambling about, herbivore? Is your memory really as bad as your balance?" He crossed his legs and his long black hair fell down over his face. "You ended our fight verbally, remember? And you even carried me here on your back. Like the spineless, bottom-feeding mule you are. Your concept of victory," he glanced down sideways at the still kneeling Dino, his eyes glittering smugly in the mellow light, "... eludes me, I'm afraid."

And that was when Dino finally snapped.

Without warning he grabbed the boy around the ankle and yanked down hard. Hibari was jerked forwards and landed on the floor on his back, staring up at Dino with eyes that were wide and momentarily astonished. Dino had the time to grin triumphantly before those same eyes narrowed dangerously and Hibari's bruised, scraped-up knee shot upward and hit him squarely in the solar plexus. Dino groaned, more from surprise than pain, but when he doubled over, clutching at his stomach, his co-ordinance skills failed him yet again and his forehead collided with Kyouya's with an audible '_crack_'.

Bright white lights exploded in his vision like fireworks, there was a very brief, very intense pain, and then the world went black…

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"_Is that a turtle?"  
_"_Yeah, his name is Enzio. He's really gentle; you can pick him up if you like."  
_

_He watched in fascination as Kyouya let the little turtle greet him by nibbling at his fingers. "Do you like animals?"  
Hibari stroked Enzio gently on the head with one finger. "I don't mind them. The small ones are nice."  
_"_He's small now," said Dino and leant his head back. "But he's a special breed. Just don't get him wet, he-he!"_

_Hibari glanced at him sideways over his shoulder.  
"Enzio is a sponge turtle," explained Dino. "He sort of absorbs moisture – I don't know how else to explain it – and then bam!" He mimed an explosion with his hands. "He becomes Godzilla. Actually," he added, almost as an afterthought, "it happened at your darling school once when we were having a snowball fight."_

"_Hm," Hibari smiled a small, lop-sided smile. "I remember that." He looked down at the turtle. "That was you?"  
_"_Do you have any pets?"  
Hibari glanced up at the little bird that was comfortably nested in his hair. "In the traditional sense I suppose."  
_"_Does…it? Have a name?"  
_"_No."_

"_When I was little I always wanted a dog," Dino went on. "Father hated them, though, so it never happened. Then I started to like horses more. Taming a young horse is such a thrill." He gave Hibari's head a friendly shove as he got up to leave.  
"Just like you!"_

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**Normal is fine**

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When Romario and Kusakabe poked their heads inside only a quarter of an hour afterwards, it was not the commotion so much as the complete and utter lack thereof that drew their attention. Because the room was suspiciously quiet and they both instinctively sensed the potential danger.

But the scenario that met them was, in a sense, quite peaceful.  
Dino was lying still and unmoving, face down on the floor and half on top of Hibari, who lay equally motionless on his back, shirtless and with the legs of his pants rolled up to his knees. They could have been small children who had fallen asleep during a game – or drunkards, perhaps – but of course, both Kusakabe and Romario knew at once, as if through some secret, shared instinct, that they had most likely punched each others' lights out…

They glanced at each other. Kusakabe chewed on his straw. Romario scratched his chin.  
Neither of them, it seemed, could think of something appropriate to say. Or do.

"Hmm…" it was Romario finally broke the silence, though he did so in a quiet voice, "looks like they finally, err, fell asleep."  
But Kusakabe folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. "I doubt it," he said with conviction. "The chairman has some, ah, space issues, if you will. If he was even half-way conscious, _this_," he nodded towards the two limp bodies on the floor, "would be impossible."

Romario nodded slowly; yes, yes, of course, of course.  
There was another pause.

Again Romario was the first to speak. "I see, I suppose they must have passed out then. Do you think we should leave them be for now?"  
"Ah the chairman won't be out for long, he sleeps extremely lightly," Kusakabe chuckled softly, his voice tinged with something akin to affection. "Anything will wake him up and then all hell breaks loose, if you know what I mean!"  
Romario chuckled in response as if he knew exactly what the other meant, as if they were comrades in some absurd scheme (which wasn't too far from the truth). "The boss is the opposite," he confided, laughing his deep, murmuring laughter, "he could sleep through a war. He doesn't sleep lightly at all! Plus," he added, "he talks in his sleep and moves around a lot and… oh."  
As he was struck by the implication of his own observations, Romario's voice faltered a little. So did Kusakabe's subtle smile and, simultaneously, they turned their heads quickly around to look at their bosses again. Then they glanced at each other and, at the same time, they nodded, once, and agreed silently to work together and untangle the two before Hibari could wake up – before all hell could break loose.

While they had to take great care not to come near Hibari, or breathe in a way so that he might sense or somehow hear it, Romario was easily able to lift his own boss up in his arms without producing so much as the flutter of an eyelid. As he carried him gingerly back to his own room, Dino's body shifted restlessly in his arms, wrinkled his brow and mumbled drowsily, "hm-mmm… brat."

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They slept like babies, all four of them, even Hibari, throughout the morning of the Battle for the Storm ring.

At roughly the same time as Dr. Shamal was watching Gokudera fold more paper airplanes, asking him how he would go about seducing a cute girl (he claimed this was a subject closely related to that of the proper handling of dynamite, though Gokudera didn't really get it), Dino's eyes opened suddenly of their volition.  
The terrifying thought that Hibari might have contacted someone and discovered why exactly Dino had dragged him off so far away from Namimori had struck him while he slept and he feared suddenly that his young, unwilling ward would have already run away.

He got up, feeling a little dizzy, and tip-toed into the hallway as quietly as he could muster, crossing the short distance to Kyouya's room and then, ever so carefully, prodded at the sliding door with his hand. It yielded soundlessly in his grip and slid open.

He felt himself panic at first, thinking Hibari might really have run off. But as he peered through the narrow gap he'd created he breathed a sigh of relief. Kyouya was still there.  
He lay curled up on his side just a few feet away from the door, sleeping soundly. His wet and dirty school uniform was nowhere to be seen, and Dino could just see a thin, naked shoulder jutting out from the thick blanket he had thrown over himself.

When he wasn't scowling or moving his lips he looked quite different – kind of cute, actually – thought Dino and he exploited this rare opportunity to study the sleeping boy. He really was very good looking; pretty, even. He had such beautiful skin…  
Dino caught himself staring and shook his head as if to snap out of some hypnosis. He slid the door silently shut, snorting to himself as he did, feeling a bit silly. As he made to return to his own chamber, his sleeve got caught on a splinter and he stumbled over his own feet, falling hard on his stomach.  
Nobody woke up.

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When he saw Kyouya again a scarce handful of hours later, it was purely by coincidence. Lunch hour had come and went already by then, though neither of them had eaten anything; but Dino's inner clock was so out of sync now that it could have been whatever-o'clock for all he cared, it didn't make much difference to him at all. But sleep had done him good and he felt much better, much calmer.

There was a public bath at the inn, constructed over a hot spring out in the back, and since it was customary for people to wash themselves after dinner here, Dino had expected to find it empty. Public baths were one of the few things that he didn't very much like about Japan. They were usually very tastefully designed, as was this, with cloud colored tiles on the floor and partition screens between the little shower stalls – but people stared at him all the time and talked about him openly, discussing his physique and his body art unabashedly just because they naturally assumed that he couldn't possible have a clue what they were saying. They were never cruel or rude or anything, and the comments were nothing if not flattering, but it was still very uncomfortable. With time he'd gotten somewhat used to all the shameless attention and he'd never voiced a single complaint about it but, even so, he preferred public baths when he could be there alone.

But when he entered there was someone already there, dozing in the shallow hot spring pool with a towel wrapped around his waist and another bunched up as a make-shift pillow under a mop of thick black hair. Bright sunlight filtered in through the open windows under the ceiling and Kyouya, clean and lovely with drops of glittering water clinging to his hair and skin, turned his head slightly to gaze up at him sideways from under long dark lashes, the faintest little smile playing at his lips. "Hey."  
He had stretched out a pale, exquisitely shaped arm in front of him and upon his hand sat a small, yellow bird, twittering happily.

Dino felt the corners of his lips quirk upwards into a lop-sided, but quite genuine, smile.  
He knew instantly, instinctively, as if through some unspoken, magical agreement that there existed a truce between them now, and that Kyouya knew it too.

Dino's Guardian Angel of Jinx seemed to have taken a pause as well, for aside from hitting himself in the chin with a particularly slippery bar of soap and scalding his knee before he could figure out how to regulate the water temperature on the shower head, his quick shower was blessedly free of the stupid and seemingly impossible mistakes that very often accompanied activities such as this. Even the towel he'd tied haphazardly around his waist stayed obediently in place, for once, and that was a first.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye as he was washing cotton candy clouds of foam out of his hair, that the boy in the pool was watching him. His dark, unreadable eyes seemed to be travelling over his back and upper arms; he must be fascinated by the tattoos, no doubt, or perhaps he was admiring his own handiwork, for Dino had so many bruises now from where Kyouya had hit him with his tonfa that even the slightest, softest contact with the soapy sponge hurt his tender flesh like a punch. But rather than feel annoyed like he normally did when people were ogling him, Dino found he was pleased, somewhat.  
He let his mind wander and thought about what sort of tattoos someone like Kyouya might get and began to imagine what that flawless skin might look like marked by ink. Wings came to mind.

"I like it best here when it's empty," he confided, for no reason in particular, after he had somehow incredibly, miraculously, managed to sink into the little pool opposite of his beautiful young student without accident. He closed his eyes and leant his head back, resting his neck against the sharp tiles, felt his muscles relax and melt comfortably in the permanently heated water like wax. He thought he might like to stay right there forever and never move a muscle ever again, it felt so damn good.

Hibari contemplated him in silence for a moment, though Dino didn't see it, before copying him and, with his head leant back and with the tiniest ghost of a smile on his lips he muttered, "…yes."

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In exactly the same length of time it took for Dino to fall comfortably asleep again, Hibari decided that enough was enough and left for Namimori by himself…

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**Me again**: ok, so that was Part II! The story keeps getting longer in my head though so, as of now, there will be at least 4 parts (actually this part was supposed to be twice as long)...

I mentioned that I was reading the manga book publications, and that they'd only gotten to the Cloud ring battle – so I figured I should refresh people's memories, just in case, ya know ^_~  
So! Dino admits to luring Hibari away for the sake of him not finding out that the battles are taking place at his school, and it's also revealed that Hibari doesn't actually show any interest in the rings until after he's met the Varia and Reborn tells him he might meet Mukuro again. According to Dino himself, Reborn wanted to give him a really challenging student, but I'm guessing that he also did it to teach Hibari more about being a gang leader since his role as a guardian is to act independently from the Vongola. After all, it's not until after Dino shows up with his ever-present entourage of henchmen that Hibari starts keeping Kusakabe around, for instance.

About Dino's clumsiness… Yes, it's absurd, but it isn't his constant state of being. As far as I've observed he seems to have the most trouble with aiming (including, among other things, chop-sticks, his own whip and throwing things) and running down stairs. It's also revealed that Dino isn't aware of what it is that makes him _not _clumsy, as he mentions a couple of times that he doesn't get why his men are always following him around all the time.

Reviews are, as always, more than warmly welcomed and, as always, EXTREMELY appreciated! I really hope you like this so far ^_^


	3. Part III: Namimori

**Author's note**: yes, I'm awful, but I've been really busy lately – but here's Part III, which I hope you'll enjoy nonetheless ^_^

I wanted this story to be about the things that happened during the Varia Arc that they didn't show the readers, so to speak, so therefore the battle sequences aren't terribly detailed. I'm guessing most of you remember that Arc really well as it is, right (you should, because it was epically awesome)? And I also hope none of you mind that this is all in Dino's POV (so far, anyway), because I've seen so very few stories that are – he deserves some space for his thoughts!

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**Part III**

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* * *

"_Hey, Kyouya, listen," he grinned inconspicuously and pointed at the ring, which was now glittering with violet specks of light. "'Want to learn something cool?"  
__He wondered briefly what the resolve of the other Vongola ring bearers might be. Tsuna's was probably to protect his friends – he was that kind of guy. Gokudera's had most likely something to do with protecting Tsuna, because that was the kind of guy he was, and Yamamoto's was prone to appear just like that without much effort at all, but Kyouya… now there was a different story._

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**Abnormal is Fine**

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When he finally reached the school building the battle was over. The corridor was a mess, strewn with pieces of glittering, broken glass and there was soot smeared on the walls, no doubt traces of Gokudera's dynamite. He felt suddenly crazy with worry and nearly ran towards the sound of voices that he could now make out above the sound of broken glass crunching under the soles of his sneakers like gravel. _Dear God please let them be OK…! _Then he had another worrying thought and he quickly added, _and please don't let Kyouya be here! _If Kyouya saw this, the current state of his dearly beloved school, he would go ballistic.

But when he rounded the corner Hibari wasn't there and Gokudera and the others were all still alive, if somewhat shaky-looking and messed-up.

"Ah, Dino!" Tsuna's eyes widened at the sight of him and his face lit up in a mixture of surprise and joy. "You're here!" Hibari's ever-present scowl came to mind and Dino felt close to tears, his lips nearly quivered. Why couldn't he have gotten adorable little Tsuna for a student instead?

With that thought in mind he quickly asked, "You didn't happen to see Kyouya, did you?"  
"Umh, actually we did," said Tsuna, scratching his cheek timidly with one finger. "He just left."  
"What, he was here?!" _Damnit! That little brat beat him to it!_ Dino understood from the way Tsuna said it that Hibari must have done something Hibari-like while he was here, and wondered with a sense of dread if Team Tsuna-for-10th had been disqualified yet.

But Reborn killed his fears before they could grow any further out of proportions "Don't worry," he said lightly, "he just beat up a couple of henchmen."

"Where have you guys been all this time?" asked Tsuna.

"Oh, heh, here and there… Kyouya doesn't listen to anyone and won't admit defeat even if you take him down by force…" Dino scratched his neck. "I figured he'd go on a killing spree and mess everything up if he knew the battles were taking place on his beloved school, so I took him on a sort of on-the-road training trip."

"On the road…?" Tsuna's eyes travelled over his face and lingered on the freshly applied band-aids.  
"Yeah, we've been travelling pretty far, training in various terrains, such as mountains and forests."  
"Mountains and forests?!" Tsuna's eyes grew very wide and behind him Yamamoto's eyebrows floated upwards, looking impressed. "So, umh, how strong has he gotten?"

Dino paused and felt suddenly embarrassed. _Yeah, heh, about that… _Finally he gave a meek shrug and said, "who knows."

"Huh? But you're his tutor –"  
"Oh, he's gotten stronger, alright," Dino scratched his neck again, "but that guy has no limits; he'll just continue to grow stronger infinitely." He knew as he said it that it was true. Hibari was really something else. He had never seen anything like it before.

The little group of tired, haggard-looking teenagers glanced at each other and grinned.

"Hey, sounds good!"

"Ahaha! That sounds like Hibari!"

Only Gokudera rolled his eyes and pouted his bloody lips sourly, but Dino caught the miniscule curl at the corner of his mouth and knew that even he was trying very hard not to grin with relief. He felt suddenly sorry for them that they had to rely on someone who was as terribly selfish and stubborn as Kyouya, but knew at the same time that they were fortunate to have such an excellent fighter on their side. Considering what they were up against…

And just then he remembered himself and turned to Yamamoto. "Actually, I came here to talk to you," he said. "I happen to know quite a bit about the man you'll be fighting…"

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When Dino finally got back to the hotel and waved his entourage good night, it was nearly 2 o'clock in the morning and as he locked himself into the dark, cool room that was his he breathed out a long sigh and allowed his shoulders to slump forwards. He had spent the last couple of hours walking Yamamoto home, his men following at a respective distance, while trying to imprint into his young, carefree mind that Squalo was a very, very dangerous man.  
And the more he talked the more disheartened he became, because Yamamoto Takeshi just smiled and nodded and in the end Dino felt like their conversation was more about Yamamoto trying to reassure _him_ than about him giving the younger man advice.

And all the while he talked he couldn't stop thinking about Hibari.  
He felt bad – this had nothing to do with that guy, and he needed to give the prospective Rain Guardians his full attention. Yes, Rain Guardian_s_, as in plural. Squalo had made him cry more times than he could count back when they were kids, but none of that mattered anymore. Not now.

But even with these difficult matters weighing on his mind like lead, Hibari's smirking face lurked in the corners of his mind distracting him from what was important. It was almost laughable how, even when he wasn't there, that obnoxious brat still somehow managed to make things difficult for him.  
He wondered where he was right now and if he was safe, wishing suddenly that he'd been smart enough to ask for his number before letting him out of sight. Maybe he was sleeping, or having a late-night snack before going to bed? He wondered where Hibari's bed was. _Probably in a coffin_, he thought with a tiny snort of laughter.

But as he was shrugging off his jacket, a voice suddenly spoke to him from somewhere in the dark. "Hey."

Dino gave a yelp of surprise and then he tripped over his own heels and fell backwards out into the hallway again with a crash. The lights on the little table beside the bed inside the room, _his _room, were turned on with a 'click' and there he was; Kyouya!  
He sat on the bed with a determined look on his pretty face, staring directly at Dino, and from his hand dangled one half of a ring attached to a thin silver chain – a ring Dino had seen him throw away carelessly at least twice; the Cloud half-ring!

At the sound of his little outburst, about half a dozen heads immediately appeared, poking out from the surrounding rooms and in less than a split millisecond exactly twice as many guns were pointed towards the open door to don Cavallone's room.  
Dino grinned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, pleased with their vigilance and reaction time and waved his hands reassuringly to signal that he was fine. Once he saw the tense muscles of their faces relax he turned to his unexpected guest.

_Kyouya…!_

"Ah, heh, there you are!" still grinning, Dino got up nimbly to his feet. He gave his men another wave – really, it was cool – and closed the door behind him so that he and Kyouya could be alone. But once he'd closed it he found himself standing motionlessly on the spot, staring at the boy on the bed who stared unflinchingly back. The bed was wide and clean and perfectly white, and with his black hair and elegant posture and his uniform jacket hanging off his shoulders like wings, Dino felt as if he was looking at some artistic photograph, or a display-case for some exquisite doll.

"You left…" he said finally, a little awkwardly, because he could think of nothing else to say.

Hibari looked away, and when he spoke his voice sounded suddenly very business-like.

"…Tell me about the ring."

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**The marvelous effect of Rokudo Mukuro**

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"So what made you change your mind?"

It was much later and Dino was sitting on the bed beside his young ward, feeling both sleepy and excited at the same time. He had explained everything he knew about the enigmatic Vongola rings and about why one of them had been given to Hibari. When he had explained about that last part he learned from Hibari's reaction that he seemed to like Reborn, in his own strange way, because he looked pleased when he heard that he had been the Arcobaleno's personal vote.

He had also told him about the Varia, what little he knew about their new boss, Xanxus, and a about his own relation to Squalo, which made Hibari frown although Dino didn't understand why. And finally he'd explained to him about the organization that Tsuna's father was currently operating and about the intricate bonds of alliance that linked the various parts of the mafia world together and, among other things, kept Dino from intervening directly with this particular conflict.

"Hm," Hibari, though he had listened with apparent interest, now averted his eyes and didn't answer the question.  
"Reborn mentioned you might be suffering from a case of wounded pride…" Dino began delicately. He paused, knowing full well that he _would_ regret doing this, but he had to ask, "what happened, exactly, between Rokudo Mukuro and you?"

The effect was marvelous!

One moment Kyouya was sitting peacefully beside him, looking down and away at something, and in the next he was straddling his lap, pressing cold, hard steel against his Adams apple. "Don't. Say. That. Name," he hissed through gritted teeth. His expression was positively murderous.

Dino swallowed and stared at him, wondering vaguely if his eyes looked as huge and terrified as he felt they were – _man, this guy is scary!_

But, at the same time, he realized he was feeling a lot of other things too. Like how close they suddenly were, how the warmth from Kyouya's skin was seeping through his clothes, and how he smelled fresh, like rainwater… Dino's mouth felt suddenly dry and he had to swallow again. He was seized by an urge to embrace him. He wanted to link his fingers behind that slender back and… No. He blinked and shook his head to clear his mind. _No, no, no. Too tired_, he thought quickly, _I haven't slept enough_.

Yes, he hadn't slept enough.

And Kyouya was all too beautiful…

Even when he was poised to strike and maim like now, he still looked stunning, somehow, and Dino found he couldn't quite look away. But Kyouya didn't strike. Instead his frown grew deeper and he pushed himself off Dino's lap with an irritated shove.

Dino attempted a smile, though it must have looked somewhat forced, but said nothing.  
On the inside, though, he was practically in tears with the joy of having finally succeeded in coaxing Hibari into a state of semi-attentiveness. He could hardly believe his own luck. Never mind the heaps of terrible and morally questionable acts of crime this Rokudo Mukuro kid had supposedly committed – including, incidentally, fooling his own intelligence who, it turned out, had in fact found photos of a man named Lancia and sent those to Reborn and Tsuna.  
Nope, he thought, screw all that!  
Dino silently vowed that if he ever had the chance to meet him in person, he would _kiss_ the guy!

He felt, however, a twinge of jealousy at the fact that after all of his very nearly back-breaking efforts, it would be the mere mention of some juvenile sociopath that turned out to be what it took for Hibari to show an inkling of interest. What was so special about that Mukuro-guy anyway? But the rational part of his brain was grinning broadly and telling the other to shut up. _Hah! Who cares? I got his attention now, finally!_

Dizzy with the sudden rush he'd gotten from being so close to Kyouya – his thighs still felt warm from where he'd sat on them – and the delightful aftermath of having actually told his student what he'd been trying to tell him since they'd first met, finally, Dino slid down from the soft edge of the mattress to the polished wooden floor like some boneless puppet.

And then suddenly Kyouya dropped down next to him so quickly Dino barely had time to register the movement at all before a tonfa struck down hard on the floor right between his legs. Dino gasped.

"If you mention this again, pony-boy," Hibari said quietly, his gaze intense and focused, "the Cavallone line ends with you."

He was glaring, but when he straightened up his face had once again taken on that business-like expression. "Actually, Bronco," he said, "I came for another reason, as well." He turned his head slightly to cast Dino a lazy, sideways glance. "You mentioned that your old pal was fond of sharks. So then perhaps you can think of a plausible reason why a 20 feet man-eating shark would be illegally imported to Namimori prefecture…?"

_A... shark?_ Dino stared. Then it hit him and his eyes widened._ No way!  
_He jumped to his feet. He suddenly didn't feel tired at all. Because he knew _exactly_ why a 20 feet, man-eating shark would be brought into Namimori! Something like that happening at a time like this – it could only mean one thing…

"Romario!"

A shark! Clearly he had underestimated Xanxus, and _clearly_ he had underestimated Xanxus' sense of irony. And now they would have to rethink their entire strategy for keeping both the potential Rain Guardians alive!

He turned just as he was about to exit the room. "Wait, if that thing was brought here illegally, then how come you know about it?"  
Kyouya gave him an arrogant smirk, looking oddly pleased with himself. "This is my turf," he said simply and lay down on Dino's bed with his hands behind his head.  
Dino grinned and shook his head with a snort of laughter. _Brat_, he thought affectionately.

.

.

He lay in the exact same position in the middle of the bed when Dino returned.

He had spent the past couple of hours making arrangements for the battle that would take place the following night. The Cervello could say what they wanted, but he had scrutinized the legal documents surrounding this tournament, which smelled fishy enough to him as it were already, and he was in his full right to do as he planned just as long as he took care to do it _after_ the winner of the Rain Ring had been announced.

He would be damned before he let anything happen to Yamamoto – he was too good to die for this worthless cause!  
But he didn't want anything to happen to Squalo either. He had known Squalo as a boy, after all – crazy Superbi Squalo who was a genius at sword play and an idiot in practically every other aspect – and he would protect him too if he could, even if that bastard would surely detest him for it.  
There was another reason for it, too, though, that was slightly less charitable. If he could get a hold of Squalo he might be able to coax the truth out of him about why it was Xanxus and not he who was now the leader of the Varia. Everyone knew Squalo had been top candidate for that job and Dino was suspicious.

Dino startled when he spotted Hibari and thought at first that he must have fallen asleep, but then the boy opened his eyes to peer at him lazily. "Hey."  
"Ah, you're awake." He grinned sheepishly. _And you're still here_, he mentally added and wondered suddenly if maybe Hibari wasn't planning on leaving at all.

"Well?" said Kyouya, glancing up with one of his languid almost-smiles. "Aren't you going to ask?"  
"Err, ask?" Dino suddenly had a fleeting thought that maybe Hibari could read his mind. It wouldn't have been awfully surprising, actually. _Does he want me to _invite _him to spend the night here…?_

But then, before he could say anything, Hibari raised his arm straight up and flicked his wrist, giving Dino a glimpse of a heavy looking watch. "It's a school night."  
He did not elaborate, Dino had come to understand that he didn't like to explain things, but he knew what the boy meant. Hibari never went home. Even when they had been out on their little on-the-road training exercise, he hadn't seen Hibari make as much as a single phone call.

He was suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity – but he was starting to become accustomed to Kyouya and his moods, too, so instead of asking him directly he said, "will you answer me, if I ask?"  
Hibari smirked and closed his eyes, apparently pleased that he had gotten the reaction he'd been hoping for. There was a pause, as if he was trying to figure out whether to actually speak or not.  
"I'm not an orphan," he said finally, as if that was all the explanation anyone would ever need, "and Namimori is my town. I come and go as I please."

Dino couldn't help but smile. Hibari Kyouya was rude, cold, dangerous and plenty of other things… _but_ he was fascinating, there was no denying that.  
He was definitely something special.  
Anyway, that one sentence did crush his theories that Hibari had been raised by a pack of rabid wolves.

But it still didn't answer his other question, though, the one he hadn't asked yet. _Casual_, he thought. "So, err, will you…" Dino coughed, "spend the night with me? I mean _here_, will you spend the night here?" _Well, _that_ sounded casual…_

Hibari yawned demonstratively and the ghost of a smirk flickered across his face. "I always sleep wherever I choose," he said and seemed amused. "But if you think I'm staying for the scintillating conversation, you are sadly mistaken, Cavallone."

Dino gave a snort of laughter. He opened his mouth to make a retort, but when he turned around he found Kyouya had already fallen asleep. He must be exhausted, far more so than he had let on, because he was sleeping on his side again now, as he had done at the Inn, rather than on his back, like he usually did when he was resting.

Dino thought all of this and then wondered vaguely why he should know. _What the hell is wrong with me? _he wondered. He stared at Kyouya's sleeping face was suddenly lost in contemplation. _What is it about this guy? Why does he affect me this way?_

But he wasn't too bad when he was asleep, actually.

Carefully Dino dropped down on his stomach with his chin propped up on his hands.  
_A middle schooler this fearsome… _He cocked his head and tried to resist the urge to touch the boy's face. Hibari Kyouya… _he must have his reasons, I bet, I wonder what kind of past he has_. Dino tried to imagine what kind of parents Kyouya had, now that he knew that they really existed, tried to think of a Mr. and Mrs. Hibari, but it was too ridiculous and his shoulders began to tremble with suppressed laughter.

He finally fell asleep like that, lying on his front, half-way turned toward Hibari.

He slept uneasily; his contemplations regarding Kyouya had turned into strange dreams, in which he was running after Hibari through a dark, shadowy forest. He was running as fast as he could, but the forest never ended, and he never seemed to get any closer to his target, never even spotted his back – only heard the sound of his effortless breathing.  
He opened his eyes and stared straight into Hibari's. Startled he blinked, once, but when he looked again Hibari's eyes were closed and he thought he might have imagined it. They lay closer now, he noticed vaguely.

Then the dream changed and suddenly it was Hibari who was chasing after him – no, not chasing. Hunting him. And if Dino stopped, he would be killed.  
In the dream, he knew this.  
He shifted in his sleep and was awakened once more by his own moan. Kyouya was definitely asleep now, lying on his side he had taken Dino's green, fur-collared jacket and bunched it up under his head to use as a pillow. Dino smiled and fell asleep again.

When he awoke the next morning, the morning of Yamamoto and Squalo's battle, he wasn't sure if he'd dreamt it or if it had really happened.

And Kyouya was gone.

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.

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**of Hibari's Kindness**

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.

.

When they met again the following day for practice up on the school roof, because that was, of course, where Hibari was, things got a lot easier…

"I wanted to thank you for telling me about the shark," Dino said, somewhat awkwardly. For the first time he felt like their sparring session had actually gone well. Hibari had seemed more focused on outdoing him this time, rather than annihilate him.

Hibari grunted something indifferently and twirled his tonfas impatiently.

"You should come watch the battle tonight," Dino said suddenly. He was acting on an impulse now, but once the words were out he realized he meant it. He wanted Kyouya to come tonight.  
Hibari looked at him, bemused. "Hm. Don't wanna."  
"You aren't curious?"  
"Not remotely."

But his lips were slightly curved now in one of those almost-smiles of his and Dino knew, without knowing how, that Hibari would be there.

Then he remembered something from last night. "Hey, Kyouya, can I have your number?"  
Hibari gave him a long, blank stare. Then the smirk returned, challenging. "Sure, but you'll have to come get it yourself, Bronco."

.

.

The battle of Rain was traumatizingly long – and at the same time it was over way too quickly. Yamamoto won. But it was an unhappy victory and Yamamoto himself looked crushed.

_They're just kids_, thought Dino with a sense of melancholy. _Children, fighting the battles of adults._ Then he thought about Kyouya and glanced up at the roof, where a thin layer of mist had begun spreading like a veil. How different he was, really, from the rest of them.  
He wanted to talk to him, but there was no time. He needed to make sure they got the shark!

As it turned out half an hour later, Hibari had done more for him than just find out about the shark. A lot more. He had also made all the necessary arrangements at the hospital, where they were greeted with open arms aplenty who, incidentally, happened to be fully prepared to take in a shark victim. Even though there were no sharks in or anywhere near Namimori.

Hibari wasn't there himself, which made Dino feel strangely disappointed, but a couple of the other prefects were, including Kusakabe, and Dino sent his resourceful student a silent thank you as he helped his men carry Squalo's mauled and motionless body inside.

.

.

Dino knew something was up when he saw Kyouya again. He was there, sitting perfectly uninvited on Dino's bed like he had the night before, only this time he looked distracted.  
There was a curious little almost-smile on his lips and his dark eyes glimmered in the sparse light, putting Dino in mind of cats.  
"He's back," he said, and there was a tremendous satisfaction in his voice.  
Dino didn't have to ask whom Hibari was talking about, it was plain enough, and again Dino felt this little twinge of perfectly unreasonable jealousy.  
_Rokudo Mukuro…_

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.

.

_It was typical of Reborn to deliver shocking news the same way he might comment on the weather._

_"Our Mist Guardian is Rokudo Mukuro."_

_Dino almost dropped the phone. He stared at it blankly. "…that Mukuro? But he tried to kill Tsuna, why would he do that? Are you sure this isn't some crazy scheme?"  
_"_His reasons are his own, just like Hibari's. But he was Sawada Iemitsu's vote, and the Mukuro who'll be fighting in the Mist battle is not the same Mukuro who fought against him out in Kokuyou Land."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_That's not important. What's important is that you keep Hibari Kyouya as far away from Rokudo Mukuro as you can. Are you coming to watch the Mist battle?"  
_"_No. No, I'm… I'm visiting an old friend." He thought about Squalo, weak and pale and scarred in the hospital bed and felt his voice grow faint. He had a sudden vision of The World, with all its troubles, as a big, ugly black creature with too many legs, crawling steadily up onto his back. __Too much. This is too much!_

_But Reborn didn't seem to notice – or if he did, he didn't care. "Good. Make sure Hibari's preoccupied as well. I don't want Mukuro near him, and I'd rather he didn't get close to you either, Dino. There's no telling what he might do. Do you agree?"_

_Dino nodded vigorously, recalling the scary look on Hibari's face when he'd said that name the other night in the hotel room. Then he remembered that he was talking to a phone. "Yeah, yes, of course I agree!"_

"_Great!" said Reborn cheerfully, "because one of his friends here just told me that Mukuro is on his way to visit your student right now."_

"_He's what?!" __Completely disregarding Romario and the others Dino started running toward Namimori middle school. I'm always running after Kyouya, aren't I, he thought. _"_Reborn…" he panted. He had to ask. This might be his only chance. "What is it with those two anyway? What did Mukuro do to him?"_

"_Who knows. Why don't you ask him?"_

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**Author's note**: ok, hope you're enjoying it so far! There will be either 2 more chapters or one really long chapter ;D

Feedback would be greatly appreciated *bows deeply*


	4. Part IV: at the hospital

**Author's note**: thank you so much for the reviews! Ah, you guys rock ^_^  
This is chapter 4/5, meaning that the story is coming to an end, and when it does I will actually have no unfinished stories left here (yay for me) ~~ which, I'll admit, feels a little sad, but kind of good too, in a way. It feels good to write this, though, because it's my favorite arc so far, and I'm not sure how I feel about the new one yet...!

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**Part IV**

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* * *

"_Do you know the only reason why no one's beaten you to a pulp yet, Cavallone?"_

_Squalo was holding him up against the wall with one hand, and Dino clawed at his skinny arms, but he was only 11 and helpless. "It's because you're like a fucking puppy! Did you know that baby animals only look so cute to protect themselves, because it makes others want to protect them?" he hoisted Dino further up. It became difficult to breathe and Dino coughed. But he wasn't scared. Someone would come, someone always did._

"_And you, nancy-boy, "roared Squalo, "you are like a fucking baby animal!"_

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.

.

Hibari found him the next morning at the hospital where he was sitting vigil over Squalo's supine form, reminiscing about their turbulent and, often as not, rather unpleasant school days together.  
Squalo had been one of those parentless, juvenile delinquents who all but overflowed the mafia world – kids with that special mean streak or ambitious look in their eyes that got taken off the street by famiglias who needed a new messenger boy or assassin or body guard. Sometimes they fulfilled other purposes as well, but Dino didn't like thinking about that. Some people thought of it as a cruel form of exploitation of children, which, of course, it was, even though the children in question were probably much better off with the mafia than they were on their own, but for Superbi Squalo it was the best thing that could have possibly happened. There was simply no other niche for him to fill in this universe than that of a hitman; a crazy, impulsive, aggressive, loud-mouthed hitman. Squalo didn't care about anyone or anything, he just wanted to fight.

_Just like Kyouya_, thought Dino.

He was completely lost in his own contemplations so he never heard him enter, but when he looked up, Kyouya was suddenly there, leaning against the wall behind him, twirling a tonfa around in lazy circles while he contemplated the rather poor sight of Squalo. "How pathetic," he drawled, without looking at Dino, "want me to finish the job?"  
Dino, whose breath had hitched in a tiny gasp of surprise when he realized he wasn't as alone in the room as he'd thought, burst out in laughter. "I really don't think they let you euthanize people in here, Kyouya!"

Then his expression grew serious, and when his eyes met Hibari's he held the gaze. "Listen," he began, "thank you, for this. If it hadn't been for you, we never would've –" he glanced quickly down at his former school mate and tormentor. "Well, Squalo would most likely have been dead by now," he finished. "Thank you… that was nice of you, what you did."  
He felt a little awkward, almost vulnerable, expressing gratitude towards Hibari like that, but he really, truly, earnestly meant it. Kyouya could think whatever he liked.

But Hibari just stared at him and the insult he'd expected didn't quite come. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then he shut it again and turned his chin sharply away. His pale cheeks looked suddenly a little rosy. "Dying is not permitted on school grounds," he grumbled, almost sulkily. "So you can stop wasting your breath on sentimental assumptions." He glared at Squalo again and said, "I still think that weakling bottom-feeder should be put to sleep," before he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room as if Dino had offended him deeply.

Dino followed him with his eyes and realized that he was grinning broadly. He didn't feel the least bit insulted, instead he was happy. Because he knew now that Hibari did have a conscience after all. A bit small perhaps, and certainly very shy – but it was there.

And who knew, maybe there was a heart in there somewhere, too!

.

.

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**Never changing**

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.

.

"Why are you getting so upset about that guy anyway, eh boss?"

It was already past noon when Reborn called to tell him about Mukuro, and Dino still hadn't managed to find Kyouya. He'd read the files on Rokudo Mukuro, and he knew Kyouya well enough by now to be genuinely worried. He knew that if the two of them found each other and decided to have a little 'play date' then Tsuna might very well find himself short of not just one but two guardians.  
Once again he found himself wistfully thinking of what his life could have been like if he'd been put in charge of Yamamoto or Tsuna instead. But there was no time for his little fantasies. After asserting that Hibari was not at school, he became _really_ worried – because Hibari was always at school. No exceptions.

Eventually Romario had called them a car to speed up the search. He didn't come along personally, however, because Dino decided he'd rather have him at the hospital looking after Squalo. It was vital that nobody found him there and discovered that he was still alive. Especially not the Varia or one of those creepy Cervello girls!

And so he continued his quest on wheels, together with a couple of his younger subordinates. They were cool, but the driver seemed to think Hibari Kyouya was an unnecessary thorn in the eye. "He's just a spoiled kid," he said, gesticulating with his entire arm as he talked, like the pure-bred Italian he was. "It's _him_ that needs disciplining! You shouldn't let him get to you, eh boss!"

"I'm not!" Dino blurted out in response, a little louder than he'd planned to. Perhaps it had to do with how he'd been thinking so much about Kyouya, and _only_ Kyouya, lately, but he felt a bit like he'd been caught with his hand down the cookie jar. "Who says I am?"  
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, crossing first his legs and then his arms. _It's just that, Kyouya is special_. He stared out of the car window at the passing scenery, without really seeing anything. _He's just so cool…_ But he didn't say that out loud.  
"Yeah, that guy is hopeless," he said instead, and waved his hand dismissively. "He looks cool, but he's a total badass."

"Well he's confident, gotta give him that!" laughed the other man from the back seat.  
"Yeah but he doesn't have to be so goddamn mean!" argued the driver. "That stuck up little Ice Prince… I'm telling you, eh boss, you shouldn't care."

"I don't!" repeated Dino defensively. "I'm just gonna… make him eat his words." And then he added with a somber face, "_and_ keep him from messing all of this up and getting Tsuna and the others killed."  
Turning his attention back to the window, he drew his breath in deeply and exhaled slowly through pursed lips. He really couldn't get Kyouya off his mind, could he.

_I'm the boss of these people_, he thought, as if a part of his brain was trying to mentally shake his shoulders and slap him on the cheek, straighten him up._ This is my job, I've been through worse!  
_Miserably he rested his chin on his fist and tried to imagine his life the way it had been before this whole Inheritance deal had started. He found he was having a hard time picturing it. Would that life be enough for him now, he wondered.

A life where he didn't constantly have to deal with Hibari Kyouya's pretty, filthy little mouth every second of the day?

Yeah, that would be something…

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**Black Cat**

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.

Dino was starting to accept the fact that you don't _find_ Hibari Kyouya. He finds you.

His search that day had ended in absolutely nothing, aside from a rather pleasant sightseeing tour of Namimori, and when he tried calling he got to, "hey, Kyo–", before the little brat hung up on him. And so in the end there was little left for him to do but return to the hotel – which, as it turned out, was just as well, because the world did not stop turning here or anywhere else just because there was a power struggle within the Vongola famiglia, and Dino Cavallone had his own people to worry about.  
The desk in his hotel room was buried in paper when he arrived and once he managed to dig out his laptop from underneath it all he found that practically all of his e-mail accounts were overflowed as well… He was more than happy to help out his cute little brother, of course, but baby-sitting Hibari had proven to be an infinitely more challenging and time-consuming task than originally anticipated, and here was the undeniable truth of that right in front of him now.

So, after calling to make sure Romario was ok and Squalo's condition was stable, Dino sent his men out to guard the hallway, opened a bottle of imported red wine and started to work his way through the piles of paper.

Outside the sky went from forget-me-not blue to bright orange to dusky violet, but Dino, lost in concentration, took no notice.  
He'd come across some interesting news paper clippings that he'd had Bono send him from Italy, from the time back when Xanxus had taken over the Varia, and sat with his ankle resting on his knee, sipping his expensive alcohol, reading with great interest. Something weird had definitely happened, he felt absolutely certain of that now.

He'd nearly forgotten about the Mist battle, when suddenly, a voice spoke from almost directly behind him.

"Hey."

Dino practically jumped in his chair. He spun around so quickly that the whole thing toppled over sideways, and sent him sprawling on the floor, right in front of a pair of shoetips that he recognized well enough.

He glanced up. "Jesus, Kyouya, have you heard of knocking?" Then, "how did you get in here?" But, on the inside, a small part of him was happy. Kyouya had come to him, again. That was the third time now.  
"I'm special," drawled Hibari, a hint of amusement in his voice.  
Dino felt something flip in his stomach when their eyes met, and silently cursed himself. _Damn, this could be bad…_

He was a little dizzy in the head from the wine, but managed to climb back up onto the chair again.  
Meanwhile Hibari had picked up the newspaper article he'd been reading, about the Varia, and was studying it. His eyebrows lowered only a fraction, but he could just as well have kicked over the desk.  
"Xanxus," he said. "I recognize that name. So he is the filthy, maggot behind all this mayhem."

Dino poured more wine into the glass that balanced precariously on the corner of the desk and nodded gravely. "Yes, and I'm pretty sure he's behind a lot more than just this thing with the Vongola rings, too." He took a small, thoughtful sip. "I just can't prove anything yet." In the next second his brain vaguely registered that he'd probably had enough to drink for the evening, because the next thing he blurted out was, "so, did Mukuro find you?"

Hibari's eyes focused on him in an instant, like a bird of prey. But before Dino could even flinch, the look shifted and Hibari cocked his head to the side, "what kind of useless question is that, Bronco?"  
Dino felt his cheeks grow hot and he grinned in attempt to cover it up. But when he replied his eyes were dead serious, "because I know he went to see you. I was afraid you guys would start to fight," he looked away. "The mafia world is controlled by a pretty rigid set of rules, and it would be disastrous if you two took each other out now. I've been looking for you all day."  
He wasn't exactly sure what sort of reaction he'd expected after such a confession – a blow to the head, maybe – but, to his great surprise, Hibari's lips actually tilted into one of his mysterious, little smirks and he hoisted himself up onto a small, uncluttered part of the desk.

"Wow," he drawled, and it sounded like 'wao'. "Looks like I'm a pretty popular guy."

Dino chuckled. It wasn't the comment so much as what it said about their relationship, which was most definitely evolving. It seemed he'd successfully eroded away some of the outer barricades the boy had constructed around himself – and who would have thought, after their first violent week together. Not that Hibari still wasn't a brat, because not much had changed on that front, but he certainly had a way of growing on you, and Dino realized now that he didn't really want to leave him.

Bloodthirsty, arrogant, anti-social, drop-dead beautiful Hibari Kyouya… Yes, he would miss him.  
He didn't have time to analyze this particular observation, however, because just then Hibari picked up the slender wine glass and peered curiously at its contents. "Hm, is this wine?"

"Yeah, it's a Chilean brand; Gato Negro. It's not too bad. Hey wait, you aren't –"  
He reached out as if he meant to take the glass away, but Kyouya didn't listen. When did he ever? With a curious look, he tipped the glass forward and dipped his tongue in the dark red liquid. "…old enough," finished Dino weakly.  
He was suddenly unable to tear his eyes away.

In a different part of town, circa 1.3 km away, while Hibari Kyouya had his very first taste of alcohol, Tsuna and the others had begun casting nervous glances around the gym of Namimori middle school, trying to ignore the Varia and worrying suddenly if their Mist Guardian would show up at all. Only Reborn seemed calm.

"It tastes dark," said Hibari, without looking up. Then he dipped two fingers in the glass and licked them. Dino swallowed. His throat felt oddly dry. Did everyone look so sensual when they drank wine?  
Carefully, Hibari lifted the glass and took a long sip. Gato Negro had passed Tasting Test 1 and 2, it seemed, and now it was apparently safe to try and actually drink it. The fading daylight from the window gave Hibari's pale skin a soft glow and Dino was mesmerized. He had a thoughtful look on his face, as if the taste in his mouth was something new and peculiar that needed to be properly categorized in his brain before he could let it go.

Then he swallowed, put the glass down and fainted on the spot as quickly and smoothly as if someone had shot him.

It happened so ridiculously quickly that Dino almost didn't register what was happening before his student hit the floor with a muted 'thud'.  
Dino had seen people so strung out on acid that they thought sea monsters were crawling out of the walls, had seen junkies completely lost in their own little drug induced Nirvanas and drunkards who would kill each other over a penny without even realizing what they were doing… but never in his life had he seen someone pass out from _one_ sip of wine!  
His lips quirked and then he laughed.

So this was Kyouya's weak point then, apparently – wine and, unless Reborn had been lying about that whole Mukuro-ordeal, flowers.  
"You'll be one hard to please date someday, Kyouya," he muttered. Then he crossed his arms and looked almost affectionately down at the boy. He had that serene angelic look on his face again now, like he did when he was asleep.

Dino realized he was smiling; he looked so _cute_!

Then suddenly Hibari's eyes opened and his lips curved into a smirk and, at the same time as Tsuna, 1.3 km away, realized, without knowing exactly how, that the skinny girl with the eye-patch was somehow _not _Rokudo Mukuro, he hooked one well-shaped foot behind Dino's left ankle and pulled hard.

Dino barely had the time to let out a tiny yelp of surprise before his old nemesis Gravity decided to side with pretty-boy on the floor and push him over. The glass fell out of his hand, spilling red wine on his arm and his face and the front of his T-shirt, while he tipped forward like a fallen statue, straight toward Kyouya who was laughing now; a low, murmuring laughter.  
He landed hard on his own elbows, which he'd stuck out automatically so as not to hit Kyouya with his full weight. It hurt like fuck!  
His face had come to an abrupt, painful stop exactly one inch above Kyouya's, raining sparkling ruby-red drops down on his lips and pale little chin.

But Kyouya was laughing. A smooth and deep and subtle little laugh that Dino had never seen or heard him make before – but laughter none the less. He hadn't known Hibari was capable of such human reactions.  
In fact he had never seen the prickly little beauty like this at all; on his back with his hair like a black aura around his head, staring up at Dino through half closed eyes, his cheeks pink and flushed.

"Yo-hou are such a klutz…!" he almost giggled and Dino was amazed. All of this from less than half a glass of wine!  
His elbows and shoulders and knees had started to burn, but for some reason it didn't really matter, because exactly one inch under him, a small pink tongue tip had ventured out and was picking up the droplets of wine that Dino had spilled on him. It looked like they were melting into his tongue.

"Stop staring," drawled Kyouya under him, "or I'll bite you to death, plant eater." His voice was barely more than a whisper.  
Dino noticed suddenly how dark it had became around them. Night had fallen outside and aside from the lamp on his desk, casting a butter yellow glow on their hair and lips and cheek bones there was no light in the room.  
And it was so quiet; the kind of quiet where you can only hear the sound of your own breath and heartbeats.

Then Dino gave a soft laugh. He was blushing terribly now, he realized, and found himself searching madly for some way to break the silence, make the tension go away before things became awkward or Kyouya became violent. "You really liked that stuff, didn't… you…" but his voice trailed off and disappeared, because just then Kyouya reached his hand up to grasp Dino's neck and for one crazy moment Dino almost thought he was going to kiss him.  
But what he did was run his tongue up along Dino's cheek, right beside the corner of his mouth, lapping up a drying trail of Gato Negro, leaving a warm, wet trail of his own that turned cold instantly, and caused a very different type of heat to pool in Dino's stomach.

At 22, Dino's body didn't need a whole lot of encouragement.  
He was stunned, like he couldn't feel his arms or legs at all, but on the inside he was acutely aware of a lot of things happening all at once. Like how fast his heart was beating, and how his insides were on fire and how it felt like someone had emptied a bucket of boiling hot water over him.  
And Kyouya's skin, and his hair. The faint smell of boy skin and rainwater.

Almost before he realized what he was doing, it was suddenly he who was leaning closer, and then Dino did the thing he knew he had secretly wanted to do for a very, very long time… he kissed Kyouya.

Dino had never kissed a boy before. But he didn't think that it would have felt very familiar even if he had, because this was Kyouya – and there was nothing ordinary about Kyouya.  
For one thing he didn't close his eyes, the way other people normally did. So Dino didn't close his either and they gazed, unblinkingly, unflinchingly, into each other's eyes as their lips melted together. It was strangely arousing to be watching each other like that, he thought; almost a little _too_ intimate, as if they were doing something forbidden – which, arguably, they were, but Dino couldn't have cared less at that moment.  
Because Kyouya's mouth felt warm and tasted dark and bitter-sweet and his lips were firm and perfect.

Their lips parted briefly. The inch between them returned and that miniscule expanse of space was laden with tension, neither of them blinked. Kyouya's expression didn't change.  
But he didn't strike or insult him, and he didn't push him off and, as it turned out, at 22 Dino's mouth didn't need much encouragement either…

In the gym of Namimori middle school, Mammon had taken notice of how tightly the girl clung to her unusual weapon and thought he had already won.

As their lips met Dino felt a thrilling, almost electric jolt, a small, excruciating heat that exploded in the pit of his stomach. And by the time the mysterious girl who called herself Chrome was disappearing through a veil of thin, pink mist and the hellish sound of Rokudo Mukuro's laughter could be heard like some ominous echo, Dino had already decided to throw all caution out the window.  
This was probably the only chance he'd ever get, and if he was going to hell then he might as well earn his ticket properly.

Their lips untangled, then met again. Harder now, less tentative. As if they really meant it this time. He nudged Hibari's lips open with the tip of his tongue, felt them part a little and then a little wider until their tongues met. His insides felt electric! Was it supposed to feel this good? This exciting?

1.3 km away, Marmon's carefully designed ice formations were being blown to bits by a smirking Mukuro, and everybody in the gym was beginning to realize what the outcome of the fight would be.

Kyouya was, as always, a frighteningly fast learner, and already he was finding the perfect balance between lips and tongue and teeth. He was obviously enjoying it, for he had made no indication of wanting to stop and the rhythm of his breathing had shifted, adjusting to the movements of their mouths, and when Dino shifted his position, stroked a hand down his side, memorizing the shape of it with the inside of his fingers, Kyouya arched under him like a cat and his hands came up to tangle in Dino's hair.

Somewhere in all this they had crossed a line, and Dino knew it. And he knew that Kyouya did too.

Their kissing was growing hotter, wilder – by the time either of them knew it their hands were roaming each other frantically. Every touch, every gasp, every slip of skin, every lick made explosions in his chest and the pit of his stomach and Dino thought he would go mad with it. He was so hard now it almost hurt.

As Rokudo Mukuro was making the air burn black and red, Dino unbuttoned the front of Kyouya's shirt. It parted under his fingertips, sliding apart to reveal that white, smooth expanse of skin that he had only seen twice before. It looked even more perfect now, he thought, exposed under him like this for his eyes only to see and for his hands only to touch.  
He slid one hand into the shirt, down and around the waist, flattening his palm against the small of Kyouya's spine, where it curved slightly inwards. He was so warm! It was hard to imagine someone as cold as Kyouya having such a warm body.  
But he was careful. He had this image of Kyouya as some wild, exotic animal, and was afraid that if he made a wrong move then he would either pull away or go for his throat.

_What do you think you're doing?_ demanded a voice inside his head as their lips once again parted. _This is bad and you know it, and anything about it that doesn't __**feel**__ bad, __**is**__!_ But Dino ignored the voice – at this point he couldn't have cared less if the room around them was on fire. Nothing around them existed. He kissed the corner of Kyouya's mouth, his chin, his jaw line, pressed his mouth against the soft, smooth skin of his neck, tasting the skin, his hand slid further down. Hibari gasped.

Then suddenly without warning, just as Rokudo Mukuro snapped the two halves of the Vongola Mist ring together and assured Tsuna in his velvety voice that he was still quite set on destroying the entire mafia world, preferably disguised as the Vongola 10th, Kyouya grabbed Dino by the front of his T-shirt in a gesture universally reserved for phrases like _what did you call me?_

But what Kyouya said was simply, "air."

Dino stirred from a world slightly detached from reality, a world where he had his palm on Kyouya's naked skin, his lips on Kyouya's pretty neck and Kyouya's legs wrapped around his own. "Err, what?" He looked up, as if he'd been caught doing something illegal.

"I need air," Kyouya said calmly.

.

.

They sat next to each other in the grassy field behind the hotel. Dino had advised Hibari to walk around a for bit and drink some water – just to try and be helpful – but Hibari had advised him back to shut his trap and go play on the motorway so Dino shut his trap and stopped trying to be helpful. The silence between them suited him perfectly anyway, because his blood was pumping hard through his body and the residues of unfulfilled lust still coursed through his system like poison.  
But in its wake followed the dawning realization of what he had just done – and what he _would _have done, if Kyouya hadn't…

At least Hibari graciously allowed him to accompany him while he sat perfectly still on the ground with his eyes closed.

Dino felt something vibrate in his pocket and saw that he'd gotten a message on his cell phone. He glanced down at the display. The message was from Reborn – two sentences, short and concise. Rokudo Mukuro had won the Mist battle, which made Dino nod slowly to himself in a sort of private approval, and tomorrow… He looked up at Hibari.  
"Hey Kyouya," the grin returned, "a little bird told me your fight is up tomorrow. How are you feeling?"

Hibari stretched like a panther and got smoothly up on his feet. He was grinning too, Dino noticed, but then he noticed something else, namely the extractible tonfa in his student's hands, and a feeling of dread sunk like a rock in his chest. _Aw man, he can't possibly want to fight now…?_

"Why don't you find out?"

Yes, apparently he did.

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**The Cloud battle**

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They all stopped by the hospital that morning, one after the other. He didn't want any of them to know what he was really doing there, and so he had little choice but to deal with them each in turn as they showed up, making sure that none came into the room where Squalo was. What surprised him the most was the underlying tone of genuine concern that he detected in their voices – not just for the sake of the final outcome of this sordid ordeal, but for Kyouya. Even Gokudera Hayato's normally hostile eyes had darted restlessly back and forth as they talked, searching for a trace of Hibari.  
He felt a bottomless affection for them. Such sweet kids they were!  
He tried to imagine Kyouya doing the same, but all that amounted to was a floating mental image of Hibari standing with his arms crossed, muttering something along the lines of "weaklings can return to the earth" – or something equally dramatic. Kyouya was not very sweet at all.

But no sooner had the image appeared in his mind than a venom-laced voice whispered to him cruelly, _oh but he was very sweet last night, was he not?_ And the image of Kyouya's scowling visage changed into one with flushed, pink cheeks, his parted lips glistening sensually, letting out little sighs and moans of pleasure…

A knot twisted somewhere in the pit of his stomach and Dino averted his eyes in something that felt like embarrassment, or shame perhaps. Hibari had left shortly after their little sparring session behind the hotel the night before without saying goodbye and Dino hadn't heard from him since. He would have called – _should've_, probably – but every time he picked up the phone, he found he couldn't do it.  
The truth was that he was ashamed of himself and his own lack of self control. How far would he have taken it if Kyouya hadn't suddenly decided he needed fresh air? There was probably a special place in Hell he thought, for people who got pretty minors drunk and… but Kyouya had wanted it, hadn't he? He liked it.

But wasn't that what all molesters said afterwards?

Suddenly, as he stood there feeling sorry for himself and wondering which level of the infamous Inferno he would end up in, he caught a glimpse of someone watching him out of the corner of his eye. A boy, around Kyouya's age perhaps, but taller, with sleek, blue-black hair and a smooth face, standing right there leaning against the door frame. Dino startled, but when he swiveled around, he saw that it wasn't a boy at all but a small, delicate looking girl who stood there, dressed in a green, heavily modified school uniform. He blinked.

"Uh… _mi-mi dispiace_," she said in a small voice, tugging nervously at her skirt, "are you… are you the one who is training the Cloud person?"

In retrospect, Dino reckoned it had taken him way, way too long to understand exactly who he was talking to, but once realization dawned on him, Chrome Dokuro seemed to sense it somehow and she quickly left the room before he could ask. He followed after her, but ran straight into Tsuna in the corridor.  
It would be almost a full year before Dino met the actual, corporeal Rokudo Mukuro face to face.

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Dino never went to the Cloud battle. It was Kyouya's fault.

In the end, when he ran out of excuses for himself, he had left from the hospital and found Hibari up on the school roof where he had known he'd be. Hibari, who had been lying in his usual position on his back with his hands folded behind his head, glanced up when he heard him approach. Dino thought he saw a hint of pink on his cheeks, the shadow of an unformed sentence on his lips, as if he was surprised to see him. But he didn't greet him and Dino didn't say anything either.  
But he was blushing vehemently, he knew, and prayed silently that neither Kyouya nor Romario would take any notice.

"Xanxus might try something tonight," he said finally; because he knew, of course, that it was Xanxus Hibari wanted. He felt awkward, didn't know what to do with his hands and put them in his pockets. _Jesus, what am I? 15?_ "We don't know what, but be careful. I'll be there as fast as I can, so –"

"I'll bite you to death if you come, Bronco," said Kyouya calmly, interrupting him before he could even finish the sentence. He said it very plainly, like there was nothing else to be said about the matter, but his eyes were serious.  
"Err, what?" taken completely off guard Dino's hands resurfaced of their own accord and the Italian in him started to gesticulate. "But, of course I'll be there, I'm your tutor!"

"You're the boss of these herbivores aren't you?" Hibari nodded towards where Romario stood. "I know you've spent a lot of time that you probably don't have crowding on me," he went on and it struck Dino that Hibari was a lot sharper than he let on. "If you really have the time to come watch me bite some dumb weakling to death, then clearly you have either been lying to me about how busy you are, or about your confidence in my skills."

Dino stared and opened his mouth to reply, but there was nothing to say to that so he closed it again. Then he smiled and his gaze grew soft. "Hmm, I see…" he crossed his arms, "well, in that case, I wish you good luck. Because I won't be there."

And then Hibari smiled too – in his own arrogant, mysterious little way.

.

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**After the battle**

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Hibari won. Of course. But that wasn't even half of it, Dino learned, when Reborn called him at the hospital… and for the second time that week he realized he had underestimated Xanxus.

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Dino found Kyouya alone by himself down on the 1st floor of the school building, in the nurse's office. He was pale and his breath came in hard, angry gasps as he wiped the blood off his torn slacks with a wet towel. He hadn't turned the lights on and the walls and corners were all blue shadows and silvery highlights. Hibari didn't seem to notice Dino until he stood almost directly in front of him. Giving an imperceptible startle, his expression turned instantly into a hateful scowl. "Get out!" he hissed through gritted teeth.  
Dino was put in mind of a wounded animal – hurt, and very, very dangerous.  
He reached out his hand, unsure even as he did of what it was exactly he wanted to touch, but Kyouya wouldn't let him. He lashed out at him, the swipe of his tonfa so quick and hard that some of the fur on Dino's collar was cut off clean and drizzled to the floor like dust.  
"Kyouya –"  
"I said get out, Bronco!"

Hibari lunged at him, but his leg failed and Dino caught him before he hit the floor – before he even realized he had been reaching out for him.  
Hibari's lithe form was heavy and limp in his embrace and the tonfa fell clattering from unresisting hands. Kyouya had passed out. Very carefully, Dino lifted him up, enjoying the warm, comfortable weight in his arms and carried him over to the single bed.

For a brief moment he was torn, knowing full well that Kyouya could, and probably would, be furious at him for what he was about to do… but Dino was a good guy.  
And good guys always do the right thing. So, with hands that were slightly unsteady at first, he began, very carefully to undo Hibari's belt.  
Whatever had happened to that leg was causing him to lose a lot of blood, and there were dark blotches on his shirt as well where blood had seeped through. His pants were stiff with blood and Dino had to practically peel them off, one leg at the time, the shoes, the socks… all the while trying not to lose his focus, which was a lot more challenging than he had feared.

They were just legs. Nothing he hadn't seen a million times before, he told himself; and never mind that Hibari happened to have very long, well-shaped legs for a boy. The skin was as flawless and snowy white as the rest of his body, even here, as if he really was just a porcelain doll.  
Swallowing hard, Dino shook his head, _concentrate damnit_, and started unbuttoning the shirt from the bottom up.  
_Come on pervert,_ _this isn't rocket science…_

When Hibari opened his eyes, Dino's blurry shape was standing over him, and cold, slick hands were massaging his left leg. "…What are you doing…?" he asked in a hoarse voice. He looked down himself, the flat pane of his own stomach and his own upraised thigh, covered in tendrils of dried blood and shiny salve. Dino absentmindedly clenched his jaw in preparation of the outburst that was bound to come, but to his great surprise, Kyouya smirked.  
"Go away, Bronco," he said lazily. "It'll heal."  
Dino remembered their encounter at the inn, when he'd tried to talk Hibari out of using that duct tape. "Eventually yes," he said, repeating what he'd said to him then, and smiled, "but it'll heal much faster if you let me take a look at it now."

They looked at each other in the dark. And then Hibari sat up, beautiful and almost naked, and there was something different in the air. Some new and uncharted level of understanding in the look that passed between them.  
And then he grabbed a handful of hair and pulled Dino's face close, closer, until their lips met, hungry and demanding, and Dino was falling.

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**Me again**: I am officially unable to write short chapters, bear with me, but I really hope you enjoyed reading this one too! ...and if you review I'll hug you to death (inagoodway) ^_^


	5. Part V: in the nurse's office

**Author's note**: it seems I have unintentionally lied to you. My apologies! *ahem* This is _not_ the final chapter – the _next_ chapter (Part VI) will be the final one!  
I have this code I try to follow when I write, which, among other things, includes that I will never write more than 5 chapters. But it also includes that I will never exceed a certain length, and I was once again forced to cut the chapter in half (…this happens to me a lot). Hope you'll bear with me ^_^

Have I told you guys how much I love you? Can I do it again? I… LOVE you guys (to death)! Thank you so much for the reviews! I've saved them all, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well!

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**Part V**

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* * *

_You can't beat biology_, Dino thought. He was standing with his hips pressed against the edge of the hospital bed between Kyouya's legs and had his white, exquisite arms wrapped loosely around his neck as their lips met in hot, feverent kisses that each time grew deeper and harder. The palm of his hand still rested on a naked thigh, massaging it with gentle fingers, smearing out the glistening mixture of salve and blood.

Sure, humans didn't exactly live in caves anymore, and Dino personally had more hard earned life experiences on his repertoire than he could have ever wished for – but still, he knew that if someone placed a ball in front of him, he would kick it, when he saw running water, he wanted to stick his hand in, and when he had a willing partner in front of him like now, well, he didn't stand a chance…

He slid one hand underneath the elastic of Hibari's boxer shorts (plain black, unsurprisingly) and leaned over him, climbing up onto the bed so that he was lying on top of him. Hibari gasped, and then he moaned. He wasn't smirking anymore now. He bit his lip, as if to keep all the little sounds his body wanted him to make firmly locked up inside, and made no protest when Dino forced him to lie back on the mattress.  
_I'm not drunk_, thought Dino as he wrapped his other arm around Kyouya's shoulder, burying his fingers in thick black hair, and brushing his lips over the slender neck. _I am aware of all the facts, all the consequences – there is no excuse for what I'm doing_! But that was the thing about biology, because none of that mattered in the least and he couldn't help but think that none of this was really bad at all. He still knew exactly what he _wanted_ to do…

He kissed Kyouya on the neck, gently biting the skin in places he knew to be sensitive, licked the smooth underside of his jaw and enjoyed the feeling of Kyouya's soft cheek pressing against his upper arm. The rhythm of his breathing had changed, and his breath came in warm, heavy puffs against the nook between Dino's shoulder and neck. Strong, slender hands were clawing at his back, sliding under the T-shirt, pushing it up, up until he could wrench it off Dino's shoulders, and suddenly their upper bodies were separated by nothing at all.

He wanted him, he _badly_ wanted him – his dear, dear beautiful, terrible Kyouya, with his sharp, perfect teeth and skin like white silk, who was getting all too skilled at this game all too quickly.  
But still, maybe, just maybe, he would have been able to hold back, do the right thing and pull away. Until Kyouya's hands wandered down his sides, slid down his stomach to the waistband of his pants and deft fingers undid the belt and the zipper and suddenly it was Dino who was gasping…

.

.

It had hurt. Though Hibari had made no sounds indicating pain and not once asked Dino to stop, he had clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes tightly shut when he entered him.  
Dino froze immediately. He had never done it with a boy before and became suddenly nervous about whether he was doing it right, or if maybe he was too big. But at the slightest hint of hesitation, Kyouya had glared up at him. "I am not an herbivore," he hissed quietly, his tone of voice dangerous, and Dino had almost laughed, his eyes softening with a sudden rush of affection. Hibari was about to have his first taste of adult intimacy, lying naked on his back with parted legs, and he still managed to look intimidating!

He wrapped his arms tightly around him as he pressed in a little further. Kyouya's sharp little chin was digging into his shoulder, his thighs trembled slightly and it was all Dino could do not to come right there and then because it was so hot and tight and absolutely wonderful!  
He wanted to ask if Kyouya was ok, if it hurt very badly, if he wanted to stop – but felt, no, _knew_, that Hibari would loathe him for it if he did. So instead he began to move, slowly at first, then a little faster, his own jaw tense with the effort of holding back, of holding onto what little was left of his self-control, trying to steady the rhythm of his own bucking hips.  
Under him, Kyouya, eyes still tightly shut, was clutching the bed sheets so hard that the fabric was coming apart in his grip.

His entire body had seemed to tense up at first, unable to relax or adjust to the alien sensation – but Dino was careful, as gentle as he dared to be, caressing the exquisite curve of his hips and stroking his palm across the sensitive underside of his thighs, touched him to make his muscles ease and his desire grow.

He wanted Kyouya to enjoy this.

And slowly Kyouya's eyelids lowered and he began rubbing the back of his head against the mattress and his toes curled with pleasure against the backside of Dino's calves. He bit his lips, then parted them again, unselfconsciously adjusting his breathing to the movement of their bodies and when Dino pushed himself in deeper, he was rewarded by a high, sharp gasp. "_Ah!_"  
The bad thing was how much he enjoyed the sight of Kyouya like this, with his eyes screwed shut, head thrown back, moaning, biting his lip like that, it was almost too much. Proud, arrogant, spiteful Kyouya, _beautiful_, beautiful Kyouya with his piercing eyes and his lovely predator face, lost in the throes of passion.

But even like this, Kyouya was a study in self-control. Dino had never tried but he knew that it supposedly hurt like crazy, doing it like this. A girl he'd once met had told him that it felt like being torn in half with a thousand knives – but Kyouya took every bit of it, took every inch of him, because to that guy, pain was only a vague concept.  
Kyouya was the kind of person who _should_ be gay, Dino thought vaguely, considering his high threshold for pain.

With that knowledge in mind there was no twinge of guilt as Dino wrenched him onto his side and held him down with the palm of his hands as he let his own body take full control, abandoning all coherent thought in favor of that delicious, shuddering pleasure. Kyouya arched his back, making the muscles and bones flex in smooth ripples under the surface of that perfect skin, and his pale lips parted to let out a soft moan.  
His eyes were hazy and glittering and the only clear thought in Dino's head just then was that he would gladly spend the rest of his life exploring the personal Heavens and Hells of Hibari Kyouya's beautiful body.

He stroked his hands over the exquisite back, lightly groping a rounded buttock and squeezing it before moving his fingers over the smooth stomach, the chest, as if trying to memorize its warmth and texture. He leaned over the boy and their fingers twined in a locked embrace and Dino felt a desperate urge to merge together with him, to get even further into him, to climb into him and taste the magic inside. And as he sucked on his lips, he realized with a surge of elation that Kyouya was looking up at him with the same hungry stare and he suddenly loved him terribly.

"Does it feel good?" he whispered. Kyouya responded by twisting his body under him, wrapping his arms around his back and his legs around his waist. "You talk too much, Bronco," he said, as plainly as if they'd just been discussing a movie, and he clung tightly to him, his small, sharp fingernails digging into his back as they moved together.  
Dino reached behind him and cradled his head in his hands, gently, lovingly, felt the soft, smooth inside of Hibari's thighs brush against his sides with each thrust. The sensation was wildly satisfying and drove his movements to become faster and more violent.

Their bodies seemed to be melting together now, their skin warm against each other, slick with sweat, his pleasure became Kyouya's, and Kyouya's his.  
Warmth was spreading through his body in a crackling, electric current, like hot water being pouring over ice cubes. He sensed that he was nearing the end. He felt a wave of pure pleasure rise and break over him and he cried out. As he pressed his lips to Kyouya's he realized how desperately he wanted him.  
They were doing it together now, driving each other further into a wild haze of desire towards a climax that would surely kill him.

He pushed himself in harder, forced himself in as deep as he could and used the palm of his hand on the back of Hibari's knee, pressing it down so that it almost touched his chest, shifting angle to get better access. Hibari's breath came in high, sharp gasps now. Little black motes danced before Dino's vision, he had a sense of infinity that threatened to burn him up from the inside of his stomach and then he came with Kyouya's toes curled in his hair and Kyouya's fingers buried in his skin.

He practically collapsed on top of him, as if all his strength had just suddenly vanished, nuzzling the black mop of hair with his nose and panting hard into Kyouya's perfect neck curve.  
"That was interesting..." murmured Kyouya, his lips a mere inch away from Dino's air. He sounded winded and Dino could practically hear the little smirk in his voice. He almost wanted to laugh, but he still hadn't regained his breath and all he managed was a small "heh", which sounded more like a sigh than anything else.

They lay like that for about 2 seconds, and Dino felt oddly, inexplicably _happy_, before Kyouya said in his normal voice, "you're heavy."

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When he opened his eyes again the nurse's office of Namimori middle school was filled with sunlight and the single hospital bed was empty but for him. In front of him stood two very red-faced girls who explained in stuttering English that one of them had a headache and kind of needed to lie down for a bit. Dino blinked.

It was, in a way, the second time they had spent the night together in the same bed.

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**The Sky Battle**

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If biology is what controls our impulses, evolution is surely the outspring of reflection, and the next morning while he was on his way to the hospital, Dino's evolved mind was struggling.

He'd never meant for it to happen. Really, truly, honestly… it wasn't supposed to go the way it did. Crap! Of all the stupid, idiotic _fucking __**ridiculous**_ things to do…! A kid, a minor, his _student_, this delicate little creature that wasn't delicate at all and had been entrusted to him… He was the worst, lowliest person in the entire world! He dragged the palm of his hand over his face – he had slept with Kyouya. He'd slept with a _kid_!

But at the same time, he couldn't honestly say that he regretted it and he grinned stupidly at the memory. It had been amazing. They had both wanted it and, if truth be told, Dino didn't think he had ever truly looked at Kyouya as a 'kid'.  
Maybe it would have felt more wrong if it had been someone else, considering the circumstances and Kyouya's condition; but the mere thought of Kyouya letting someone take advantage of him was just plain ridiculous. There was nothing vulnerable or impulsive about that guy – and while Dino was morally inclined to feel like the big bad wolf, his most prominent realization was that he had just been seduced by a 16 year old boy.  
So much for self-control…

His mind was completely numb when he once again slumped down next to Squalo's bed, relieving a yawning Romario who thankfully excused himself and went to get some proper sleep. He was just thinking that whatever he did from now on in his life it could never be enough to make up for what he had done, and wondering at the same time if he would get to do it again – when he realized that Squalo was staring back up at him.

"Vrooooi…" he said in a low, hoarse rasp. "If you're gonna cry you can go jump off a bridge, pretty-boy."  
"Ah, so you finally came to, Squalo." Happily embracing this opportunity to think about something other than Kyouya for a while, Dino smiled and explained, "in case you're wondering, I snuck in my sub-ordinates during the Rain battle. I was prepared to fish Yamamoto out of the water, but… the battle didn't end quite as I expected."  
He thought Squalo would be upset, but there was something genuine in his voice when he asked, "why did you save me, Bronco? You should've just left me."

"Of course not," Dino's gaze softened. He remembered everything when he looked at Squalo – how many times hadn't this guy made him cry when they were kids!  
"If you died, we'd be in trouble too. My little bro' would've done the same thing without thinking, even for an enemy." Then he gave Squalo a direct look and turned suddenly dead serious. "I really think Tsuna's worthy of becoming the 10th," he said, almost accusingly. "What is it that makes you follow Xanxus? You, who's only ever cared about your own skills?"

But 'Xanxus' was apparently the Magic Word, because at that Squalo pressed his lips together and he refused to speak another word that day.

.

.

When he arrived on school grounds many hours later with Squalo in a wheel chair, Dino realized he was glad that he hadn't been there from the start. Everything that was happening inside was being shown on a huge screen, and things were looking bad. There was so much blood that it was hard to tell who was winning, and Dino couldn't see Kyouya anywhere.  
He hadn't been in touch with the boy all day (it had been difficult enough after they'd _kissed_ – and then there was Squalo) and it wasn't until Reborn told him about the battle afterwards that he realized he should have been. Dino hadn't known that all the Guardians were required to participate in the Sky battle, and why Hibari had let himself be bothered into going at all he could only guess.

Somehow, he could imagine Kyouya's reasoning going something like: _hmm, I'm bored, I wanna kill someone_, and then decide on the Sky battle simply because it was nearest. However it was it seemed Hibari had actually turned out to be quite the Ace Card in the battle so far.

Basil told him that he had overcome the Death Heater, a potent poison strong enough to kill an elephant, all by himself, and then proceeded to save first Gokudera, then Yamamoto and even found the time and energy in between to face off against Belphegor. Dino couldn't help but grin, feeling oddly proud. That guy was just unbelievable…!  
At the same time he wondered absently if Kyouya would be the one to give him his first gray hairs.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected from the Sky battle, except from Squalo finally opening his mouth again. He didn't trust Xanxus, and the intelligence he'd gotten from Sawada Iemitsu and his team in Italy only strengthened his belief that something was very much amiss here, something they had all missed... All except Squalo; or so he hoped, because he wasn't sure if he'd be able to protect him from Xanxus' wrath after this.

And, sure enough, after the point where it seemed obvious that Tsuna had won… well, things went rapidly downhill and completely off-scale!  
Xanxus wasn't the real son of the 9th after all. _That_ was the big secret! And Dino didn't know an awful lot about the mysterious Vongola rings, but among all the people present, only two people realized the significance of this information, and Dino was one of them. Because, worthy or not, that meant Xanxus _couldn't _inherit the Sky ring!  
(The other one who knew was, in fact, Rokudo Mukuro, but this remained a well-hidden secret until much, much later)

It should have ended there but, as it turned out, the Varia had taken precautions of their own.

After Belphegor had killed one of the Cervello girls in plain sight and the rules were very clearly off, Dino and the others found they were trapped inside the spectator area. Marmon said he had tampered with it, and that he'd been planning to kill everyone inside anyway. It would explode if they tried to escape or interfere, and, to make matters worse, the Varia had called their troops to Namimori, which meant that even if they did manage to get out they would still be up against at least 50 trained assassins, maybe more.

Dino had more resources than the others and, after he'd _finally_ spotted Hibari, who came sauntering into the area looking bloody and bruised but alive and breathing and as battle-hungry as ever, he began calling for help. But then, suddenly and unexpectedly, help arrived before anyone could do anything, and it arrived in a form that no one had expected… _Lancia_!

Lancia of the infamous Family Murder Incident. Lancia, the strongest man in Northern Italy, who had been Rokudo Mukuro's decoy and slave for years. And after that, the Varia didn't stand a chance.

The Cervello announced that Xanxus was disqualified and that the Winner and Official Heir to the Vongola was Sawada Tsunayoshi. And up on the big screen Tsuna was smiling and looked for a moment as if he were about to cry, and Gokudera and Yamamoto was there on either side of him, and then, as if someone had simply let the air out of him, he sank slowly to the ground and fainted.

The battle for the Vongola rings was over.

.

.

Hibari had turned on his heel the moment Tsuna hit the ground – silence was sometimes the greatest approval he could give, and the tiny little smile that he let nobody see his highest form of praise – and Dino found him wandering along the road on unsteady feet, heading purposefully away from Namimori middle. He was so pale his skin looked almost yellow.  
"Ah! Pull over!" he shouted, as soon as he spotted the familiar shape and that school uniform, and he was out of the car before it had even stopped. "Kyouya!"

At the sound of protesting tires, Hibari turned his head around sharply, both his tonfas at the ready, but when he saw who it was his arms fell down his sides.  
"There you are!" Dino stopped in front of him, at a respectful and relatively safe distance. A yellow cone from a street lamp above them shone down on the pavement between them and insect wings and dust particles sparkled faintly above their heads.  
Hibari's eyes were clear, expectant, and his lashes cast shadows on his high cheek bones. He said nothing.  
"We, err – you should probably be at the hospital right now," Dino felt suddenly awkward again. He wasn't entirely sure Hibari would accept his help, and he was very much aware of the warm tug in his stomach when Hibari's eyes met his. But how would Kyouya act towards him now, after they had...?  
"Come on," he said gently, interrupting his own thoughts. "I'll drive you."

As they drove it became increasingly obvious that Hibari really needed medical attention. He was dizzy from the blood loss, both from his own Cloud battle and then from his little duel with Prince the Ripper, and his consciousness was dangling from a thin thread. He was swaying in his seat like a rubber noodle.

"Congratulations on your victory!" Dino was exhausted himself and didn't actually feel much like talking, but he was afraid that Kyouya might have a concussion and knew that it was important he didn't let the boy fall asleep. His voice was falsely upbeat. "I heard what you did for the others, too. You were quite the hero today!"

"Don't know what you're talking about. Stop saying stupid things…" Hibari fell sideways into Dino's lap. "Get off me," he grumbled sourly.  
Dino put his palms up in self-defense, "you're doing this yourself, Kyouya!" then, "hey, listen, we should probably call your parents. Let them know where you are and –"  
"Go burn, herbivore," muttered Hibari in response through gritted teeth. He attempted to push himself up and away, but his arms were like jell-o and he kept blinking his eyes heavily. Cats came to mind again. He looked very cute and Dino had to concentrate not to think about sex. "Ok, fine, I'll do it after we drop you off at the hospital. Just tell me where I can find them."  
"Who knows…?" began Hibari, but fatigue must have overcome him at last, for he slumped forwards and by the time his cheek hit Dino's thigh he was already out cold.

Dino decided to let him sleep. They were almost there anyway. He contemplated the pale and suddenly peaceful visage, and his own carefully constructed _'mildly concerned' _smile disappeared.

He let his fingers glide gently through Hibari's hair.

He sighed and closed his eyes. It was hopeless. That self-centered, arrogant, violent little brat…

_...tsk! And I'm not even gay_, he thought miserably.

.

.

.

**A heartfelt goodbye**

.

.

.

Kyouya's apartment was on the 3rd floor and he opened on the second knock, as if he'd been standing right behind the door all day just waiting for someone to drop by.

Dino had come straight from the Takeshushi, the restaurant that Yamamoto's father owned. They had been celebrating Tsuna's victory and the remaining light of day was only a purple ribbon over the horizon.

He'd come alone, and even though it couldn't possibly have been more than a couple of kilometers, he had somehow gotten lost at least five times before he finally reached the building where Hibari Kyouya presumably lived. He wasn't normally bad with directions, but occasionally, for no apparent reason at all, his inner compass became about as steadfast as a paper airplane and he could hardly find his own pockets.  
Kusakabe had given him the address, and there was a look in his eyes that made Dino think that maybe he knew, that maybe Kusakabe could read his mind a little.

Kyouya was dressed in a small black and white T-shirt for once and there were bandages wrapped around his wrists and upper arms and a band-aid on his cheek where Belphegor's wires had cut him. He'd probably come straight from the hospital. The Cloud half-ring dangled faithfully from a chain around his neck.  
However, the tonfa in his hand left visitors in no doubt that there was nothing casual about the lack of reglemented school uniform attire.

"Ah, hey, Kyouya!" Dino waved at him, cheerfully, warily eyening the tonfa. _Jesus, does he sleep with those things?_

It was strangely pleasant to see Hibari dressed in something else for once. Hibari wasn't the kind of person who fussed a lot about his appearance and even though he was always clean and neatly dressed, it didn't seem to Dino as if he cared much at all.  
He studied the profile, the pretty skin, the way he held his head, and he wondered how far someone like Kyouya could go on looks alone if he'd wanted to. He was a bit thin, but the muscle and bones of his body was perfectly balanced and curved delicately in all the right places. His hair had probably barely been brushed that morning, but it still fell down over his smooth, white cheeks in a flattering way, and the straight, perfect lines of his eyebrows set off his eyes nicely. People paid money to be with people who looked like Kyouya.

But then again, he did have the personality of a Wolf Spider to make up for it, plus the people skills of a rock…

He didn't greet Dino, but his lips curled upwards into one of his chilly little smirks when he saw who it was and the raised weapon lowered a fraction of an inch. "Well well, if it isn't Crouching Moron…" he drawled and cocked his head to the side, curiously. Dino thought he looked pleased, but he couldn't be sure. "What're you doing here, reject?" His dark eyes swiped back and forth along the hallway before he added, "and where are your plant-eater pets?"

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Dino scratched his neck, and instead of answering Hibari's question he said, "so, err, this is where you really live, huh." Then, "how does a middle schooler like you end up with a sweet place like this anyway?" The building Hibari lived in was one of those luxurious ones, with small, perfect apartments, clean walls and absolutely no noise from the street.

Kyouya's eyes narrowed. He had gotten that bored expression now that Dino was so familiar with and crossed his arms. "This is pointless," he said. "Did you come here to talk real estate or do you wanna come inside?" There was a sudden impatience in his voice. "'Cause I'm closing the door now, klutz."

"I'm leaving for Italy tonight," Dino blurted. That was the real reason why he had come. To say goodbye…  
"Is that why you're here, Dino?" Hibari's eyes were very clear and dark and Dino noticed vaguely that it was the first time he'd called him by only his first name.

_I wanted to see you…_ he wanted to say it so badly that he almost did. Almost. "Ah, you know," he said instead, putting on a valiant grin – what had he really expected, anyway? "I just, err… Take care, ok!"

Hibari's eyes grew cold and dark. He was not the kind of person who was inclined to tolerate ranting. Or lies. "If you're not here to fight," he said in a drawling voice, "I have no interest in you."

He made to close the door, but at the very last possible second Dino made a quick decision and caught it with his hand…

.

.

Their clothes were a trail of a desperate and frantic lust, wrenched off one by one and tossed carelessly aside, starting just inside the entrance through the sparsely furnished living room and sparkling clean kitchen ending inside the western-style bathroom with its white tiles, slick and hard as teeth, and its western-style shower stall, where Dino stood with his hands braced on the cold wall and Kyouya's strong, perfect hands digging hard into his shoulders and one pale, smooth knee hooked over each of his arms. Hibari was gasping; his soft, deep moans getting a little higher, a little less controlled with each thrust of Dino's hips.

He sucked on the pretty neck, rubbed his lips against the tender spot under his jaw, where the pulse beat, licked it as if he wanted to taste the life as it coursed through his veins. He bit the ear lobe and thought for one wild, crazy moment that he wanted to rip it off and let it slip down his throat to nestle in his stomach and stay there so that he would always have a piece of Kyouya, flesh and blood, with him.

"Kyouya, Kyouya, Kyouya…!" he murmured, his lips close to Hibari's ear, his voice thick with a wild and desperate and infinitely hopeless affection. He loved him. _God _but he loved him!

He drove him crazy when he was with him, and everything between them was just wrong, wrong, _wrong_ for a thousand different reasons – and surely none of them as profoundly wrong as this – but he knew that he would die from it if he was _not_ with him. If he could never have Kyouya in all his ice-cold, hellish spite and malice, never taste his flawless skin, touch his vicious mouth, then he would shrivel up like a malnourished plant and eventually the longing in his chest would make his heart explode.

He shifted his arms, stroking them up and around his back, holding him up, never ceasing to move. The movements of his hands were tender and almost gentle, loving. He didn't believe in fucking Kyouya _gently_ – there was no way of predicting what he might do if he became bored at a time like this, and Dino would cringe at the thought – but he would hold him like a lover, at least.

Hibari's fingers scratched across his back, his teeth closing on his shoulder to stifle his own cries of pleasure, his long legs arching pleasantly, curving around Dino's back and pulling them closer together. "If you… stop now," he panted, warm breath on Dino's bruised collarbone, "I'll… kill you!"

But Dino had no intentions of stopping and when they finally came, they had both thrown all concerns of being heard to the wind, and as they collapsed in each other's embrace and slid limply down onto the tiles Dino was breathing hard, licking the clean, salty sweat from Hibari's temples and he almost blurted out the three potentially most dangerous words in the universe right there and then.

But he said nothing, and neither did Kyouya. For what was there to say, really?

So instead he picked Kyouya up in his arms and carried him into the bedroom, where they did it again.

.

.

.

_The journey home went by in an incoherent blur and the sky was an appropriate heavy overcast gray._

_He was aware of being at an airport, inside an airplane, and there were people around him, people talking to him – aware yes, but present? No, not remotely. He wasn't even sure if he answered, or if they were asking him things that required answering, he was too busy looking at anonymous faces that reminded him of Kyouya and turning his head quickly around after voices that he thought sounded like Kyouya's. Everything did, for some reason._

_Kyouya…_

_When it was time to board the plane, he realized he was stalling, walking in slow motion on numb feet. And when the plane left the ground, he felt something sting behind his eyes, and a knot twisted inside his stomach and grew thick and heavy and excruciating. His heart was pounding hard against his ribcage. Long, slow heartbeats that threatened to smother him from the inside. Under him, Namimori was disappearing._

_It ached._

.

.

.

**Of Distance...**

.

.

.

It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and Dino Cavallone had not moved a muscle in over an hour. If it hadn't been for the faint spot of fog that rhythmically disappeared and reappeared on the glass in front of his mouth, one might be lead to believe he was really dead. He wasn't – but he was very drunk and felt very, very sorry for himself and thought that he wished he were.

He sat perched on one of those bar chairs that looks too tall and thin to sit on, and, at first glance, impossible to get up on. His upper body was partly hanging off and partly supporting itself on the wooden counter, his numb arms and shoulders resting uncomfortably in between a small forest of empty glasses – the big unadorned ones used for beer, the elegant ones that were for wine and the little ones that you took in one gulp with a lick of salt before you gagged at the taste and stuffed your mouth with lemon slices.  
He tried to imagine Kyouya drinking Tequila – no, no! _after_ drinking Tequila – and grinned dully, stupidly at the thought.

The room spun like a merry-go-round when he moved his eyes and the wood under him was moist and smelled of beer and citrus.

"…'nother one!" he managed. "I want…" what was he trying to say again? Oh, right, "…'nother one!" He meant to lift his hand, but it ended up as a sort of finger wiggling instead.

There was a hand on his shoulder and the smell of cologne, the one Romario liked to use, mingled with the one under his nose. Dino didn't look up. "Boss." the voice was gentle. "You've had enough now. Come on, we're going home."  
"…no! One more shot… one." Dino raised a weak finger.  
"Boss, you've been drinking since breakfast. Come along now."  
"Don't wanna…"

The pub was usually very empty during the day, because only drunkards and heartbroken women are bold enough to get pissed in public before dinner, but today the bartender had nervously welcomed none other than Dino Cavallone and his little crowd of suit-clad cohorts. They had trailed in after him, looking nearly as nervous as the bartender had felt.

That was before noon.

Now, four hours later, the kid was still conscious and still attempting to make it not so…

"Dino…" Romario tried to put his hands under his boss's shoulders, but Dino shrugged him unsteadily off. "Go away," he muttered. "'m fine… just go."  
"But you'll be sick," insisted Romario. And then, suddenly, Dino exploded. He sat up straight, so quickly and careless in his movements that he sent empty glasses flying from the counter and crashing loudly on the floor by Romario's feet. "So what?" He shouted angrily. "What does it matter?"

.

.

When they finally managed to drag him outside, he childishly refused to go home. His only thought was that he wanted Kyouya – anything at all that had to do with Kyouya! And with fingers that he couldn't feel anymore, he fished his cell out from his pocket. He knew, instinctively, that it would be about 11 in the evening in Japan, almost midnight. A terribly rude hour to call someone at, but Dino didn't even think to care. Kyouya wouldn't be asleep.

And Kyouya wasn't. When his cell started to vibrate beside him the display showed 23:04 and, without thinking, Hibari knew who it was.  
He sat outside on the school roof with his chin resting on his knees, watching the rain from a dry spot by the water tower where he usually napped during the day. He looked at the long, foreign number and paused. He glanced around himself, as if to make absolutely sure no one was there to see him, and then finally he took it... and said nothing.  
Dino didn't say anything either, but Hibari could hear the sound of his breathing.

It sounded like it was raining in Italy, too.

.

.

.

**Author's note**: the funny thing is, I wrote both sex scenes and the part where Dino tries to drown his sorrows long before I even started on the rest of this story – am I a bad person? Ok, so the next chapter will be the last one, and don't worry, I promise it won't turn into angst ^_~

Reviews would be appreciated to the EXTREME!


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